As an undergraduate student, I remember looking at a 'harmonisation' of the gospels in the Christian Union - looking where they sync up and tell the same stories, whether in the same order or a different one. It becomes instantly apparent that the 'synoptic gospels', Matthew, Mark and Luke, are incredibly alike throughout. Luke is has the most unique text, just over a third of the verses of Luke are not in either of the others, while only 3% of Mark is unique to that gospel. We can put the three gospel texts in three columns and line up where they're the same and where they differ - it's a task that undergraduate theology students often do - maybe something you have done, too.

The Christmas story as it plays out in our heads or the many plays and movies, is one of the most 'harmonised' parts of the Bible. Maybe we don't make it very clear in church, but the lines to the nativity play are not one of the bits that are found word-for-word in all four gospels (unlike, for example, the feeding of the five thousand: five loaves and two fishes etc.). If we break it down into the four tellings of the gospel story of Jesus in the New Testament, we can start to see the different priorities that the early church had towards the birth of Jesus and let it shape our Christmas just a little bit.

First of all, Mark. His is the shortest gospel, it's punchy with action, miracles and mainly quite short teachings. The first 9 chapters focus on Jesus life in Galilee, then a chapter on the journey to Jerusalem, followed by 6 chapters on what happened in Jerusalem. This means 6 out of 16 chapters make up just one week of Jesus' entire life - the weighting on the death and empty tomb of Jesus is very heavy in Mark.

So Christmas? Not at all. Mark, uniquely, does not mention Jesus' origin and birth in any way. John the Baptist 'appeared', and Jesus simply 'came' to where he was baptising. The only hint as to who Jesus is and where he comes from is the very first words: 'The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,<sup> 2</sup> as it is written...' (<a title="Mark 1 NIV - biblegateway.com" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201&amp;version=NIV">Mark 1:1-2, NIV</a>) Mark sees Jesus' coming as fulfilling Old Testament prophecy that the LORD, God himself, would come to visit his people Israel and bless them despite the trouble they were experiencing.

In Mark, Jesus is depicted as a true man, busy doing God's work. But Mark encourages us to dig a bit further, to understand the truth behind his words, the secret that Jesus seems to be hiding throughout the gospel, that he is both the Messiah, the man who God has anointed and sent to Israel and also God Himself, come to comfort and bless them and the world.

But Mark doesn't spell out the details of how, the mechanics or the crucial dates of Jesus birth, the mystery remains. The focus is on Jesus and what he did - no angels and no stars. So look out this Advent, this Christmas, see if Mark makes an appearance. Ask yourself why Mark doesn't make a big deal about Christmas. But feel free to enjoy Christmas - we've got three more weeks of advent and three more gospels to go!