Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 05:1 (Fall 1987)
Article: A Story Ignored: An Exegesis Of Matthew 2:13–23
Author: Thomas H. Graves

---

FM 5:1 (Fall 1987) p. 66

A Story Ignored:
An Exegesis Of Matthew 2:13–23

Thomas H. Graves

Professor of Philosophy of Religion
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

People were created, says Elie Wiesel, because God loves a good story. Wiesel’s remark is much more than an off-the-cuff, humorous comment. It suggests that storytelling may well be one of humanity’s greatest spiritual endowments. It is interesting, in light of our modem religious life, that when we turn to scripture we find, more than anything else, not lists of doctrines, not ethical codes, not theological proposition’s, but stories—great stories of eternal interest.

Rarely is the beauty of the biblical story more evident than in the birth narratives of the Gospels. Luke’s manger scene and Matthew’s visit of the Magi have enchanted Christendom through the ages with an undeniable appeal. Part of Matthew’s nativity story, the flight into Egypt, stands often in the shadows, however, like a forgotten stepchild. I would suggest that there are important reasons both for remembering and ignoring great stories, and those reasons may have more to do with the predisposition of the reader than with the skill or style of the storyteller. So let us focus on that frequently forgotten portion of the Christmas event and ask, why are some of our stories often ignored?

The infancy narratives have been treated in various ways by modern biblical scholarship.1 Initially the critics recognized that the Gospels drew on very different material when telling the story of Jesus’ birth. While reports of the Galilean ministry could be clearly based on apostolic testimony, questions arose as to the source of the birth narratives. Thus the stories of the Magi and the flight to Egypt were separated from the more publicly attested portions of Matthew’s Gospel. A second step was taken when biblical critics began not only to isolate the birth narratives, but also to question the historicity of such key events as the slaughter of children in Bethlehem. When attempts at extra-canonical verification seemed to fail and frictions between the Lukan and Matthean accounts were highlighted, many New Testament scholars treated Matthew chapter 2 with a high degree of doubt. Now a third and more positive level of investigation has ensued, the emergency of scholarly attention to the birth accounts as story. Seen in this light the issues of historical criticism are not dismissed, but the purpose of the narrative is seen to be something far different from a chronological tracing of Jesus’ early life. The issue now becomes, why are these accounts an integral part of Ma...

visitor : : uid: ()