Unwrapping the Nativity

As Christmas nears, Nativity scenes will suddenly be everywhere you look. You’ll see them in stores, churches, offices, and homes because a Nativity scene, manger, or creche, is the focus of Christmas traditions for many. Let’s explore the history of displaying this symbol of Jesus’s birth.

Where the Nativity Comes From

Naturally, it starts with the Bible. Nativity scenes ostensibly display the Christmas story as told in the Gospels of Luke (2:1–20) and Matthew (1:18–2:23), though the word “Christmas” is never used in any scripture. (The word Christmas means “Christ’s Mass,” and refers to the worship service associated with the holiday, whereas the Gospels speak about Jesus’s birth (Latin nativitatis, the noun meaning "birth" derived from the verb nascor, used three times in the Vulgate version of Matthew), which is where we get details of the Nativity—who was there and where it happened.) But do Nativity scenes always stick to the story?

Figure 1: The Holy Family in the crib by Adrian Gatt, on display at Museum of the Bible's 2021 exhibit Christmas in Malta: An Exhibition of Handmade Cribs. Jason Dixson Photography. Image © Museum of the Bible. All rights reserved.

Central Figures of the Nativity

The presentation of the Nativity scene depends on the century it was created, artistic interpretation, and the culture of the area. The central figures in a Nativity scene, however, no matter the size, are Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. These characters are the same in both of the Gospel stories.

So, in Luke,

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them (Luke 2:4–7 NIV).

And in Matthew,

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. . . . [Joseph] took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus (Matthew 1:18, 24–25 NRSVUE).

Each of the Gospel accounts, however, also includes figures not found in the other.

Figure 2: Nativity scene.

Sheep, Shepherds, and Angels

In many Nativity scenes, there are sheep, shepherds, and often an angel or angels surrounding the holy family. They come from verses 8 through 20 in the second chapter of Luke:

Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” . . .

So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger (Luke 2:8–14, 16 NRSVUE).

Meanwhile, in the Gospel of Matthew, a different group of people is mentioned: the Magi.

The Magi

In Matthew’s Gospel, he focuses on the time shortly after the birth of Jesus, talking about the “wise men,” or magoi (in Greek), rendered Magi, and the star they follow:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” . . . And behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1–2, 9–11 NKJV).

So, some larger Nativity scenes include wise men or kings carrying their gifts. However, Matthew’s Gospel never calls them kings, and the term Magi more often refers to priests from the Persian and Parthian empires who performed sacrifices, interpreted omens, and tutored the sons of the kings. As such, they are often translated as “wise men.” The Magi in Matthew are also said to follow a star that indicated Jesus’s place of birth in Bethlehem. Thus, the reason behind including wise men and a star. But how many wise men were there?

Matthew never states how many came to worship, only that there were “men” in the plural, pointing to more than one. In Eastern Christian traditions, the number is 12, while in Western traditions it’s three. 

In the early third century, the Magi were thought to be kings, perhaps in interpretation of the prophecy in Psalm 72:11 (ESV): “May all kings fall down before him.” Within a few centuries, the Magi had names—Bithisarea, Melichior, and Gathaspa. Today, they are known as Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar (or Casper). Balthasar is said to represent a king of Arabia or Ethiopia, Melchior a king of Persia, and Gaspar a king from India. These names appear on a sixth-century mosaic in the northern Italian city of Ravenna that depicts an enthroned Mary in royal purple holding Jesus as the Magi open their gifts. Above their heads the inscription identifies them as Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar.

Figure 3: Three Wise Men from the East. Part of the mosaic on the left wall of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare-Nuovo. Ravenna, Italy. Photo by Ввласенко. No changes. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

And just as the Magi became kings with names and kingdoms, so too did their gifts take on additional interpretations. Gold symbolized Jesus’s kingship (Daniel 7:13–14), frankincense represented Jesus’s deity (Colossians 2:9–10), and myrrh foretold his death (John 19:38–40).

To further complicate Nativity scenes, the Magi often appear right after the birth, together with the shepherds. According to oldest Christian holidays, however, they arrive 12 days after Christmas, referred to as Epiphany or Three Kings Day. Roman Catholics celebrate this feast day on January 6, while Orthodox Christians celebrate on January 19.

The two Gospels account for the wide number of characters present in Nativities, but what about the location of the Nativity itself?

Stable or Cave?

Luke referred to the place of Jesus’s birth using a somewhat ambiguous term in Greek that’s often translated “inn” or “guest room” (katáluma), while Matthew calls the place the Magi find a house (oikos). It is impossible to say for sure, but several scholars believe that the setting was most likely a type of cave.

Shepherds and people in the hills surrounding Bethlehem during the first century sometimes lived in caves or grottos, or used them as storage areas near their houses. For example, Luke 2:8 states, “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” If these shepherds were living in the caves, they would likely have used them as sheepfolds. For townspeople utilizing a cave, they would have divided the living space as follows. The front section of the cave was utilized by the family, often for storage or some living space, and the rear section was usually a stable, where the animals were kept to keep them close by and to help keep the family warm in the winter. Luke’s Gospel states there was no “guest room” for Mary and Joseph, which could refer to the area where the family resided, hence they would have moved closer to the animals or the stable area in the back of the cave.

In fact, the birth grotto in Bethlehem today is one such cave, identified by Emperor Constantine's mother, Helena, as the place of Jesus’s birth and consecrated by him with a basilica. This follows the natural geography and reports already in the second century, such as that of Justin of Sichem, that state the birth took place in a “cave near the town.” This cave-pocked geography, however, is not common in Europe, where domesticated animals reside in constructed stables. In the eleventh century, the influential writings of Bernard of Clairvaux helped fix the scene in a stable in the European mind. Today, depictions in Eastern Christianity often set the Nativity in a cave, while Western-influenced Christians locate it in a stable.

Animals and the Nativity: The Ox and Donkey

The shepherds in the story make it clear why there are sheep in many Nativities. And that animal’s association with Jesus as the “lamb of God,” reinforce their presence. But in many of the larger scenes, there are often an ox and a donkey (ass), too. Why? These animals had taken on special interpretations among the Church Fathers, and two scriptures led them to connect these animals with the Nativity.

Origen, writing in the early third century, refers to the prophecy in Isaiah 1:3 (ESV): “The ox knows its owner and the donkey (ass) its master’s crib, but Israel does not know me, my people do not understand.” He also mentions Habakkuk 3:2, as it is recorded in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament), which reads in part, “Between two animals you shall become known.” For many early Christian writers, these two animals were the ox and the ass, an association made clear in another Christian text, called the Infancy Gospel of Matthew, which refers to these animals in a line that reads, “the ox and ass adored him.” The ox represented, for these early Christian writers, the Jewish people, while the ass stood symbolically for the Gentiles. Thus, through their inclusion, all people stand present at the birth of Jesus.

Conclusion

Nativity scenes today weave together a rich panoply of story and symbolism. But no matter the setting, with shepherds, sheep, and angels, or whether there are an ox and donkey, or how many wise men are in attendance, the focus of the Nativity will always be the birth of baby Jesus.

In recent years, Museum of the Bible exhibited elaborate “cribs,” or Nativity scenes, created by craftsmen in Malta.

Figures 4, 5 & 6: Museum of the Bible’s Christmas in Malta: Winners of the 2023 Nativity Crib Competition exhibit.

Follow the link to see these incredible pieces and read about all the interesting details hiding within these Nativities:

About the Exhibits:

Christmas in Malta: An Exhibition of Handmade Cribs | November 13, 2021 – February 6, 2022

Christmas in Malta: Winners of the 2023 Nativity Crib Competition | November 17, 2023 – January 7, 2024

Additional Reading about Malta:

The Nativity Cribs of Malta and Gozo

O Come, Let Us Adore Him: Revisiting the Nativity Crib Tradition in Malta

To learn more about the events surrounding Jesus’s birth, from the annunciation to the presentation in the temple, see another article from our archives “Beyond the Walls: The Nativity at the National Gallery of Art.” 

By Judy Hilovsky, Copywriter and Copyeditor

Published November 28, 2024