2016
Most of us are fairly familiar with the birth accounts found in Matthew and Luke, even if we jumble the two stories together in our heads, or mix up which one has the wise men and which one has the shepherds. Many details that are displayed in the Nativity, whether in a set of statues, in songs, or in movies, are not found in the Bible. We almost always see exactly 3 wise men (which is based on Matthew's account), but never does the author of Matthew indicate the exact number of wise men present. We also always see the birth of Jesus set in a stable filled with animals (which is based on Luke's account), but never does the author of Luke specify that Jesus was born in a stable, nor that animals were present at all, only that he was placed in a manger after he was born because there was no room in the inn. And of course, there is no mention in either Matthew or Luke of the Little Drummer Boy.
Many of these extra details outside of Matthew and Luke that have become so familiar to us are not unreasonable. After all, the wise men present 3 gifts to baby Jesus, so maybe each was from one corresponding wise man. If baby Jesus was placed in a manger, maybe he was born in the shelter of a stable, and there were animals in it at the time. Who knows?
Part of the reason it is so easy to fill in additional details around the birth of Christ is because we are not given a lengthy account in either Matthew or Luke. Indeed, of the 28 chapters of Matthew, only 2 are dedicated to the birth of Jesus, and only 1 in the 24 chapters of Luke. In fact, because both stories found in Matthew and Luke are so lacking in detail, it is easy for Christians to combine them as if they really told one coherent story, despite the fact that the key details described in each are dramatically different.[1]
Despite the authors' brevity on the subject, we are still obsessed with the story, and can't help but want and supply more details to it. This is not new, either. In fact, a once-very-popular third account of the birth of Jesus still survives today, which not only weaves both Matthew and Luke's stories into one narrative, but also adds its own substantial details that didn't make it into our modern versions of the Nativity. This account is know as the Gospel of James.
