The canonical Gospels, also known as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, tell the stories of Jesus Christ. Today, I want to focus on the initial stories of Matthew and Luke. Both of these tell the same story, but differently. Each has different aspects that seem similar to the stories we’ve heard, which makes me think that details have been chosen from both stories and merged into the story told to us in Sunday School.
The Gospel of Matthew brings us the details that an angel came to Joseph when Mary was pregnant, telling him to stay by her side. This was an important piece of the story, but it was not in the Gospel of Luke. In the Gospel of Luke we have the detail that Mary and Joseph were turned away from the Inn due, and the fact that Jesus was laid in a manger. That detail is not in the Gospel of Matthew. However, it makes for a more cohesive story if those details are together, does it not?
Since I was a child I always thought that these were collective details. However, since the details are not collective, how can we tell what details of the story are true? I think that it all comes down to how you want to see it. Each of the Gospels tell the story differently because they are taking different angles and are different writers, who pick up different details. As time has passed, we have just seemed to merge the details together to make a conclusive story and every person reads into the Bible differently, so it really depends on how you as a person want to read it.