Odd Nativities

I loved seeing in a recent Ricochet Member Feed meme collection some pictures of rather odd nativity scenes:

Now here’s a picture of my household's Nativity this year. Decades ago, when our son was in a dinosaur-obsessive stage, he brought Rappy the Raptor to the manger scene. Rappy's made his return over the years. In our defense, many nativity scenes through the years have not been held to a rigid standard of Biblical authenticity.

Often they are snowy scenes, which I don’t think was the case in the little town of Bethlehem.

Most nativity scenes have an odd building structure, rather like a Hollywood set. There is usually a wall and a small bit of a roof. Admittedly, there is not much written about the building, if there was one. We are told in the Gospel of Luke, the second chapter, “there was no room in the inn.” And we are told the baby was placed in a manger, another word for a feeding trough. This has led most readers to believe the baby was born in a stable or barn, inspiring many nativities (or “manger scenes”) to be decorated with straw. But we aren’t told about the setting directly.

So who populated the original Nativity? Luke certainly has Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus there. The assumption that Jesus’ birth took place in a barn has led craft workers through the years to add animals (donkeys, cows, sheep). But the zoological variety isn’t directly taken from Scripture. Luke does definitely state that shepherds came to see the child upon instruction from an angel and a heavenly host. But he never says an angel was present at the birthplace. Nevertheless, many nativity scenes have an angel staged on the roof of the structure.

Nativity scenes often include the Wise Men, or Magi from the East, who were written about in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2. Though “We Three Kings” is a fine carol, Matthew doesn’t call these visitors kings or say there were three of them. It describes three gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), but it doesn’t say how many people were in this tourist group. And Matthew says the Magi followed the star to a “house.” It seems Mary, Joseph, and Jesus stayed for a period of time after the birth and were able to find more conventional lodging. Some have speculated that since Herod looked to kill every boy in Bethlehem under the age of 2, the Holy Family could have been in Bethlehem for quite a while.

But we do know that having the Wise Men visit Jesus in a manger isn’t biblically accurate.

It is fun, though, and represents important theological ideas. The good news of the birth of the Messiah was for all people. It was for the shepherds, men with a rather lowly sociological position. They slept in fields with sheep. They certainly weren’t on the invitation lists for posh holiday soirees. But the angels made a point of inviting these lower-class Jewish workers to history’s most important gathering.

But God also made a point of inviting the Wise Men of the East. Men of wealth and education — Gentiles, even, welcomed to meet the young Jewish Messiah. Who wasn’t invited to the party? Herod the King. He wasn’t ready to make room in his heart for the Newborn King.

So, since few nativity scenes are particularly accurate, I really don’t have a problem with a broad invitation to the manger. That seems to have been God’s intent all along.