Close your eyes and picture a Christmas creche, or its animated embodiment, the Christmas pageant. Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph are there for sure. Three wise men, a few shepherds. Maybe a donkey, ox and lamb stand nearby in the stable.
Centuries of Christmas carols, creches and pageants — among countless other works of art — have ensconced this scene in the heart of the Nativity for generations of Christians. But the Bible doesn’t.