The Gospels of Matthew and Mark have some very similar passages, but the beginnings of each Gospel are very different. Mark’s story does not offer an explanation for the early life of Jesus, but simply refers to him as Jesus from Nazareth and begins with the good news of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Matthew’s story begins with an account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah and then tells the story of his birth in Bethlehem and relocation to Nazareth. Matthew strongly emphasizes Jesus’s supposed Jewish lineage, saying that he was the “Son of David, Son of Abraham”. Though Jesus was also portrayed as Jewish in Mark’s Gospel, the emphasis in Matthew’s of his old Jewish lineage is striking since Abraham was father of the Jews and David was their greatest king. I think that Matthew included this to give Jesus status as an important Jew by birth. The description of Jesus’s family lineage is really interesting to me because David and Abraham are suposedly related to Joseph. However, the Gospel also says that Mary was a virgin so Jesus is actually not related by blood to either David or Abraham. After describing Jesus’s lineage Matthew tells the story of Jesus’s birth, which is exclusive to this Gospel. The story of Jesus’s birth further affirms his status as an important Jew. He emphasizes how the birth of Jesus fulfills Hebrew scripture eleven times. According to Matthew, Jesus fulfills the prophesy by being born to a virgin in Bethlehem. I think this story is also to add credibility to Jesus’s life and teachings. Matthew establishes Jesus as being from royal lineage and then saying he is of divine birth. This made me think of our reading and discussion of Mark wherein we learned that Jesus was thought of as the Messiah and Son of God. Messiah meant that he was divine and would bring about the rule of God, whereas Son of God was a term sometimes used for emperors and other political beings who claimed they were also descended from Gods.