Matthew 2:1, 11 — Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

It’s amazing how much has been added into the Biblical Christmas story.

We three kings of Orient are; Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, moor and mountain, Following yonder star.

Don’t you love that carol? I do. It’s one of my favorites. It’s just a pity that we don’t know how many wise men there were, and that they probably were not kings! Matthew says no more than “some Magi came to Jerusalem, from the East”.
It might be that there is much more that we don’t know about these wise Men than we do know.
We don’t know when they arrived. Jesus seems to have moved on from being a baby to a child.
We don’t know who they were. The traditional names Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar have no Biblical support. It’s been suggested that each represented one of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth — but there’s nothing about that in the Bible. It’s not likely they were kings, either. “Magi” suggests they were astronomers, but really doesn’t tell us much else.
We don’t know where they came from. Maybe from Babylon, or maybe they were Medes or Persians … But all scripture tells us is that they came from the East.
We know they followed a star. They came “saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” We don’t know what star, and we don’t really know why they thought it was important although all sorts of people have come up with impressive sounding ideas.
So how much does all this really matter? The way I look at it, not all that much. There are two parts to that thought.
The first is that what we know, little though it might seem, is wonderful and important. John 1:11 tells us that “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” So it was at His birth and so it would be at his death — but these wise men, these strangers — foreigners — came and worshipped and bought gifts. And John goes on to say, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” True then, true now, and a glorious truth.
The second reason why I think it’s not such a big deal that we have embroidered these beautiful details into the Christmas quilt is because I believe they support a deep truth about our desire to wonder and worship.
Let’s keep on loving the three kings, and the shepherd boy, and the other non-scriptural characters in the Biblical story — without ever forgetting to go back to the Word for the details when we step out of the realm of wonder and back to our daily walk. So, I believe, will we preserve the true spirit of Christmas!