Intro: Reading this old familiar story,

I am surprised by how little information we are actually given
- Matthew provides us bare details without embellishment
• we are not the first to recognize its streamlined quality
• over time, various storytellers added their own finishing touch
◦ it’s like an undecorated Christmas tree that looks too plain
◦ so tradition has added lots of ornaments
- for instance, we’ve been told there were three magi (the Bible does not say how many)
• some storytellers went so far as to give them names
◦ we imagine the magi came with a caravan of camels, voila! we have camels
◦ the magi are pictured in nativity scenes, though they arrived much later
• these decorations do not change the story,
◦ they are a poetic attempt to make it more visual