The account of the visit of the wise men to the infant Jesus can be found in the second chapter of Matthew's gospel.  I'm sure we all know that the story as told doesn't in any meaningful way map onto the story as known, or, more accurately depicted.  The key differences we're always keen to point out at this time of year are, of course, that a) they were 'wise men' not 'kings'; b) there could have been any number of them, two or greater; and c) they didn't arrive at the stable at all (which of course wasn't really a stable anyway), they arrived around two years later to find a toddler Jesus at home with his mum...

Normally I'm a stickler for accuracy, but this year I've been leaning a bit more into the Christmas cards, and asking myself 'why'.  Why is this story so much more persistent in our minds and hearts in its distorted, inaccurate form, built out of myth rather than history?

One theory I have, and it is only that, is that these men round out the picture for us.  They make sure that we are included, no matter who we are, where we come from, or even what we believe.

The most obvious thing they add to the crib scene is wealth, power, and a bit of influence.  Until this point we've only had a carpenter and his family, and a few shepherds, very working class.  If we want to say (and we do) that Jesus came for everybody, then at some point even the rich and powerful also need to receive an invitation - and our wise men, with their exotic and fabulous gifts fill that spot perfectly.

Perhaps slightly less obvious to us, though probably immediately obvious to Matthew's first listeners and readers is that they add religious diversity.  Until their arrival this has been an exclusively Jewish story, with the kings comes the hint of more oriental beliefs, possibly Zoroastrianism.

From these starting points perhaps its no wonder that the tradition adds in a similar vein.  Traditions vary, but it's not hard to find a wealth of nations represented with the kings originating from all sorts of places - Arabia, Persia, India, Africa, Turkey...  and not always from the same place - representing across themselves the breadth of human ethnicity.  That's why you so often find them in nativity sets with a variety of skin tones.  Then there is the question of their ages - often traditionally held to be 20, 40, and 60 - representing youth, middle age, and old age.

The point, really, is that these enigmatic, mythic, characters add (almost) everyone into the crib scene, and open the invitation to kneel at the infant to Christ to each of us. There is, after their arrival, no one you can think of who isn't in some way represented.

It's almost like someone painted a picture of Paul's remarks in his letter to the Colossians, "there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!" .  (Perhaps it would have been even better if it had been based on the same from Galatians, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.")