Both Matthew and Luke begin their gospels with parabolic overtures—unlike Mark’s gospel with his historical overture on John the Baptizer, or John’s gospel with a hymnic overture on the Logos of God.
An overture is an opening section of music or text which gives you all that follows in summary format. It presents the whole in miniature. A parable is a carefully crafted fictional story with a deliberately intended theological point. Its purpose is to move an audience to interpretation, decision, and action.
Jesus, for example, concludes his famous Good Samaritan parable with this invitation: “Go and do likewise.” Then, just as Jesus spoke about God in parables, so did the evangelists, following his example, speak about Jesus in parables.
What exactly do those parabolic overtures in Matthew and Luke tell us about that first Christmas?
We focus here on one fundamental theme where they both agree in their otherwise quite divergent narratives. That theme is their proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah (in Hebrew or Aramaic) or the Christ (in Greek) or The Anointed One (in English).
First, from Torah through Prophets to Psalms, Israel had longed for a just ruler, not only for itself, but also for the whole world. Instead, they had mostly known unjust rulers, at home, or unjust emperors, from abroad. Now, at the time of Jesus’ birth, they had acquired the worst of both options, the Roman Empire from abroad and the Herodian Dynasty at home. Both Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 announce Jesus as the newborn Messiah and direct that challenge clearly at the collaboration between the colonial Herod and the imperial Augustus.
Second, in Matthew, the wisdom of the East confronts the power of the West since the Magi are not kings, but sages. They ask Herod: “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” and he immediately rephrases their question as “where is the Messiah to be born” (2:1-4). Matthew never uses that title “King of the Jews” again until it appears above the cross of the crucified Jesus (27:11,29,37). Rome-appointed Herod failed to kill the “King of the Jews” just as Rome-appointed Pilate (thinks he) succeeded in doing so.
Third, in Luke, there is a similar process but now the outsiders involved are not Persian sages, but Jewish shepherds, and now the divine announcement comes not from a star, but from an angel. It tells them that, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (2:11). The title Messiah is bracketed and thereby interpreted by those other titles of Savior and Lord. But, since Savior and Lord were well-known titles of Caesar the Augustus (in Latin) or Sebastos (in Greek) or the One-to-be-Worshiped (in English), the challenge to Rome is again quite clear.
Still lest anyone miss that confrontation, angelic reinforcements arrive in Luke 2:13-15 and they announce “peace on earth” with Jesus as the “Peace-Bringer.” That, of course, is another and probably the core-title of Augustus. Indeed, without that one, others would not have been incredible because they were all based on and derived from his imperial role as Peace-Bringer. He had, of course, acquired that title by peace through victory, that is, through violence..
Finally, then, Christmas is about gifts, gifts of each of us to others, and yet even we Christians ignore its original celebration of God’s great gift to the world in Jesus. That gift is the incarnation of a new option for our earth—not the human one of peace through victory, but the divine one of peace through justice. It is those programmatic alternatives that justified Romans calling Caesar Son of God and God, Lord and Savior, and Christians countering that not Caesar but Christ was Son of God and God, Lord and Savior. Titles were about incarnate cosmic programs.
So there arises this question for Christians every Christmas everywhere. Must it always happen that the vision of peace on earth through non-violent justice appears with the trees and the ornaments and just as quickly follows them into storage or garbage?
There also arises this more specific question for Christians in America this Christmas. Liberals, sadly, and conservatives, gladly, now agree that America is not only an empire but the New Roman Empire. If you are a Christian and the Old Roman Empire crucified your Jesus, how do you plan to live in the New Roman Empire?
"On Faith" panelists Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan are co-authors of the new book "The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus' Birth" (HarperOne). Borg holds the Hundere Chair in Religion and Culture in the Philosophy Department at Oregon State University. Crossan is a professor emeritus in the religious studies department at DePaul University in Chicago. Read an excerpt from their new book.
