Dueling Christmas Stories Trivia Quiz

Answer: To the Roman leader Theophilus, to tell him the truth about Christian teaching.

In the first four verses of his Gospel, Luke openly explains his purpose to Theophilus, who may have been a provincial governor. At the very least, Luke is trying hard to assure his "excellency" that Christians were no threat to the body politic. Later in the Gospel, Luke portrayed a Christ who recommended we "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Luke 20:22-25).

The Gospel according to Mark was the one written to comfort the Christians in Rome, who were being persecuted by Nero for burning the city. Mark is so cautious of formal authority that his Gospel would not have been good reading for Theophilus.

Answer: To show the Jewish community in Antioch that Jesus was the One prophesied.

Antioch was where followers of Christ were first called "Christians." It contained the largest Jewish community outside of Judah, and was one of the key places where Jewish believers tried to figure out how to relate to Gentile (non-Jewish) believers.

The book instructing potential Christians is the Gospel of John. John may have been trying for a book that would transform a person the way Jesus described to Nicodemus.

If you are interested in learning more about the difference between the Gospels, I recommend Robin Griffith-Jones' "The Four Witnesses." Griffith-Jones present a strong scholarly case, but writes on a level accessible to a popular audience.

Answer: 1. Genealogy; 2. an angel helps Joseph accept Mary's pregnancy; 3. magi visit King Herod.

In Matthew's gospel, the geneology fulfills prophetic requirements, Joseph accepts guidance to react differently than the law seemed to indicate, the magi who were the first to worship were not only royal but Gentiles, and King Herod was the corrupt leader.

Such were the center of Matthew's drama. Only Luke gave attention to Mary and the Christ Child, so central to us two millenia later.

Answer: 1. Dedication; 2. John the Baptist's and Jesus' births foretold; 3. Mary visits Elizabeth and praises God.

Theophilus would have been familiar with the "exemplum," a classic genre, and Luke dedicated the book to him and showed Mary to be an ideal mother for the Lord. Luke gave such a full account of the Christmas story that he spent 80 verses (Chapter 1) preparing dramatic characters and great literary passages. Yet with all his detail, Luke barely mentioned Joseph and dared know nothing of the magi's struggle with Herod.

Answer: Mary wrapped the child in cloth and put him in a cattle trough.

Maybe Luke scarcely knew Joseph and knew the magi not at all, but he knew lots of other stuff. Those grade school Christmas pageants you remember? Except for the magi, the details came from Luke chapter 2 (or the kindergarten teacher's imagination). Whether or not the cattle trough (manger) was empty of feed, however, Luke doesn't say.

Answer: Strangely, he didn't.

Unlike Luke, Matthew described essentially nothing about the birth other than that it happened. The second half of one sentence states that "[Mary] gave birth to a son, and he [Joseph] called His name Jesus" (1:25); the first half of the next sentence tells us "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king" (2:1). That's it.

Instead, Matthew showed his readers more of the contrasted responses of the Gentile magi and the Jewish king.

Answer: Magi worshipped the Christ Child and gave gifts including aromatic gum resins.

Frankincense and myrrh were aromatic gum resins from trees, used to make incense and perfumes. Gold was, well, gold. All were quite valuable and would have made the Holy Family, for a while, comparatively wealthy.

Answer: Shepherds visited Jesus, then told many that angels had announced the birth of a special child.

Anyone in a class conscious world might neglect to mention peasants, but Luke carefully avoided mentioning the worship of the magi lest Theophilus think this made Jesus a rival to Rome. Instead, unthreatening humble shepherds showed up.

Answer: They observed the religious laws and after 8 days presented Jesus to God in Jerusalem, then went home to Nazareth.

Luke 2: 21-40. Luke portrayed a very law-abiding family, which would have pleased a Roman ruler. Luke also wrote in 2:39 that "when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth." No mention of fleeing to another country to avoid government officials.

Answer: Because they were warned in a dream, they fled from Herod to Egypt.

It's a good thing they fled; according to Matthew, Herod had all the male infants in Bethlehem killed. Matthew 2: 19-23 explains that the Holy Family doesn't return from Egypt until after Herod dies.

Everywhere else Matthew's and Luke's different stories can be made as harmonious as the famous "dueling banjos." They may follow different lines, but together they make harmony. However, reconciling Matthew's story of the nighttime flight to Egypt with Luke's direct return to Nazareth is harder.

Hope you enjoyed the quiz and learned something!