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Show Notes

I created this episode two years ago, but at the time I wasn’t using this web page to create show notes and links as a convenient way of sharing episodes. So this year I decided to go back and create this page to share the episode with those who may not have been able to hear it the first time. This story is part of a longer series in my first season that explains some of my understands of where Mary and Joseph had their baby, according to Luke’s Gospel.

Joseph’s reflections by the manger

This episode simply focuses on Joseph and what he might have been thinking and feeling as he reflected on the events of the Christmas story as told in Luke’s gospel. There are a few key words that anchor his reflections.

Peace

The word peace is central to Luke’s story of the shepherds and their encounter with the angel. The question is, what would “peace on earth to people of good will” have meant to the various characters of the Christmas story. It is clear what peace meant to the Romans. The propaganda of the empire was full of monuments, altars and celebrations of the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace. For the Romans peace was all about preventing war by being the biggest bullies on the block so that no one would challenge their right to do whatever they wanted. I suspect the Joseph and the shepherds may have had a different take on the meaning of the word peace.

The name: Jesus

The New Testament was written in Greek. The Old Testament (or at least most of it) was written in Hebrew. But the fact of the matter is that the main spoken language in Judea and Galilee in the time of Jesus was neither of these two. Most people (especially uneducated people) would have spoken Aramaic. Most scholars assume that it is the language that Jesus, his disciples and his parents would have spoken.

This simple fact means that they approached Biblical names very differently than we do. We often miss the connection between Old Testament names and New Testament names because they come to us filtered through two different languages. But the people would have told the story of the Old Testament, the stories of their people, in the common language using Aramaic names — the same names used by their contemporaries.

Joseph’s reflections focus on the idea that the name he has given to his new son is the same name, in Aramaic, as that of a famous hero in the history of his people.

So listen to my thoughts about the thoughts of Joseph by the manger and let me know what you think!

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE

“AhDah” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“It came upon a midnight clear” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The text of this episode has also been published in my book, “Caesars Census, God’s Jubilee.” The book is an examination of the entire Nativity Story as told in the Gospel of Luke and as contrasted with the rather different Nativity Story that is told in the Gospel of Matthew. The book is available in paperback through Amazon and the e-book is available in many places where e-books are sold. See the links below:



