Matt and Luke: Ships Passing in the Night

[YahwehIsTheWay]

One of the great, unsung miracles of the Lord is how he manages to be two places at once, sometimes moving in opposite direction. We see an example of this great miracle in Matthew and Luke.

One of the questions people have about our glorious lord is how he could be "of Nazareth" and yet born in Bethlehem at the same time. Matthew and Luke both offer explanations of their own. 

Luke has his family from Nazareth and he was born in Bethlehem and returned to Nazareth. 
Matthew has his family from Bethlehem, they go to Egypt and then he came to settle in Nazareth. 

Matthew Chapter 2

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem...
...And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
...When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:...
...And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

TA DA! Born in Bethlehem? Check! Called "of Nazareth"? Check! 

Notice how they came into the "house". "THE house" specifically. No stable. No shepherds. No manger. It was their house. That's where they lived. 

Notice also how when Joseph is returning from Egypt, he doesn't go home to Nazareth but rather comes to settle there as an alternative. Had he been following Luke's narrative, that the family only went to Bethlehem to register for a census, there would have been no cause to even consider going back to Bethlehem. Instead, he avoids going home to Bethlehem because a son of Herod reigns there. Better to settle in Nazareth where a ...um... different son of Herod reigned. 

Anyway, on to Luke's Jesus. 

Luke Chapters 1-2

...And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary...
...And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David...
...And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn...
...And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.

TA DA! Same accomplishment but done in reverse with no trip to Egypt. 

Checkmate, atheists!