Nativity scenes, artwork, and popular films attempt to retell the incredible story behind Christ’s birth. But sometimes there’s a disconnect between these depictions and the biblical details.
Let’s start with the popular belief that three wise men, or magi, visited Jesus.
“It’s great to go to scripture and start with the Magi,” Jesse Bradley, pastor of Grace Community Church,” told CBN News. “You know, when you think about what’s the message — well, there’s three of them. Where do we find that? Not in the Bible.”
So, where did people get the idea that there were definitively three wise men?
“There’s three gifts,” Bradley continued. “There’s frankincense, myrrh, and gold. But, again, it doesn’t say three wise men.”
Pastor and author Max Lucado agrees.
“We do not know if it was a trio of travelers or if there was two or ten,” he said. “But we do know that they came in search of Christ.”
And there’s another misconception — the Magi met Jesus on the night of His birth.
“Did they show up on the day Christ was born?” Lucado rhetorically asked. “Odds are they did not. It would have taken quite a while, but we don’t know when they started and when they arrived.”
Historian William Federer said King Herod’s decree documented in Matthew 2 provides important clues about the wisemen’s arrival.
“We don’t know the exact timing, but, based on Herod — when he inquires of the wise men, when the Messiah was born, based on that, he decides to kill all babies two years and younger. And, so, it could have been up to two years after Jesus’s birth that the three wise men came.”
Plus, there’s some ambiguity surrounding Mary’s and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem before Christ’s birth.
“We love to fill in the blanks… sometimes there’s creative license,” Bradley said. “When people think about Mary and Joseph, there are some perceptions. You know, Mary was either on a donkey or a camel, but the Bible doesn’t say that.”
Lucado affirmed that we’re simply “not told,” though he said it would make sense Mary, being “so heavy with child” would have needed the help of a wagon or animal to make the trip.
And that’s not all.
While retellings often show Mary giving birth right after reaching Bethlehem, Pastor Shane Idleman offers a caveat: we simply don’t know how long they were in Bethlehem before having Jesus.
“We assume that right when she got there (she said), ‘I feel the contractions’ … But it doesn’t really say that … Of course, there’s no lodging, the place is full, and, so, that’s when they find themselves basically in a stable, and we don’t even know the condition of the stable, but that’s how they ended up there.”
And yet another depiction in popular and church culture shows the baby Jesus surrounded by farm animals.
“We arrive at that because Jesus was born in a cave,” Lucado said. “We call it a stable, but it was most likely a cave — a place where the shepherds would come out of the weather at night. And, so, odds are pretty good that there were other animals in the vicinity. It’s not too far of a stretch to think that there were animals in the cave.”
Of course, Luke 2:7 also tells us Mary wrapped Jesus in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. All of this brings us to our final point of discussion: whether December 25 is truly the date of Christ’s birth.
“It is very interesting historically and … dive into the research,” Bradley said. “There’s a range of opinions, including March, April and May. We certainly don’t celebrate Christmas in May. But how did we end up in December? It wasn’t until about 300 years later that we landed on that date.”
The date issue has sparked no shortage of debate and conversation throughout Christian history.
“We just don’t know. Ancient Christmases would bounce from date to date before landing on December 25th,” Lucado added. “Some of the early church fathers really promoted dates in March and, for centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrated on January 6th and some still do.”
Regardless, Lucado, Bradley, and others agree it’s the intentional worship and remembrance of Christ’s birth — and not the precise date — that truly matters.
“Our heavenly father is really focused on the fact that the word became flesh — He became flesh,” Lucado said. “He became just like us.”
None of these misconceptions take away from the central message of Christmas — that God sent his son to save humanity from our sins. Still, it’s helpful to know what Scripture truly details.
