Infancy Narratives Discussion Questions
  1. Our knowledge of the ministry of Jesus comes from the testimony of the immediate followers of Jesus. Whose testimony supports a story like that of the "purification and presentation in the Temple" in Luke 2?
  2. How would you explain the apparent contradictions in details in the Infancy Narratives?
    1. e.g., Mt 1:16 v. Lk 3:23
    2. Mt 2:19-23 v. Lk 2:39-40
    3. Can you identify others?
  3. How do you account for the startling events presented in the Nativity stories which should have attracted public notice, but apparently did not?
    1. e.g. -- a star that moved through the heavens in a totally irregular way but left no astronomical record?
    2. handsome gifts from foreign visitors to a peasant family, which had no apparent affect on their standard of living and raised no interest among their neighbors
  4. How do you account for Jesus' kinfolk's lack of recognition of what a novel person he was, given the startling events presented in the Nativity stories?
    1. For example, why would Jesus' own parents not have known he was in the Temple (in Luke 2)?
    2. Why would the people in his home town chase him out as a blasphemer (Lk 4:16-30)?
    3. Why would his family think he was mad and try to prevent his public ministry by restraining him at home (Mk 3:20-21, 31-35)?
  5. Read Mt 1:20, 2:13, 19, 20 and compare with Genesis 37:19, 28b, and Exodus 4:19. What do the similarities of these scripture passages offer to an understanding of the Infancy Narratives?
  6. If the historicity of the Infancy Narratives is not an easy question to resolve, what would you suggest as a possible new direction for reflection upon these texts?