Session 1 Fact, Fable and Parable: Veracity of Redemption

Session 2 The Annunciation Accounts - Mary and Joseph

Session 3 Matthew and the shadow of the Pentateuch

Session 4 Luke and Primal Beginnings

Session 5 Genealogy - Grandmothers and Caesar

Matthew’s Account - Chapters 1 and 2

Luke’s Account - Chapters 1 through 3

Matthew moves the plot of his Christmas story as gospel overture by five divine dreams and five scriptural fulfillments. The plot and action of Matthew’s birth story proceed by a series of divine interventions and instructions communicated in dreams:

1.      To Joseph: “An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’” (1:20)

2.      To the Magi: “Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.” (2:12)

3.      To Joseph: An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his Mother _'and flee to Egypt.’ (2:13)

4.      To Joseph: An angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead. (2:19-20)

5.      To Joseph: when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, “he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee.” (2:22)

There are five such dreams, and after each one the directive is immediately obeyed. In other words, the entire progression of the plot is under fivefold divine control. And, except for once for the Magi, all the dreams are for Joseph.