As a child, I performed in a church Christmas pageant I will never forget. It included a song about the Ten Commandments. We were given oversized foam “stone tablets” and instructed to swing them up over our heads during the song. 

The poor kid with Commandment No. 4 was a bit overzealous with his tablet. The thing broke, leaving him clutching two foam corners as the rest of us choked back laughter. 

I tried to keep a straight face as I delivered the next line: “The commandments were perfect, but humans weren’t.” 

Clearly, our foam commandments were not perfect. That Christmas pageant turned out not to be quite what anyone expected.

My unpredicted Christmas pageant incident might not be all that far off from the unexpected elements of the Christmas story we find in the Gospel of Matthew. 

Although my church’s Christmas pageants included the magi mentioned in Matthew 2:1-12, those pageants were a bit selective in the material they chose to depict. 

In most of the pageants I can remember, the magi appeared as everyone expected: Three men, clad in elaborate costumes that evoked respectability, would slowly process toward the newborn Jesus lying in a manger. Their appearance was greeted with awe and reverence.

This scenario doesn’t quite capture the story Matthew tells. Matthew begins with the magi coming to King Herod to inquire about a child who has been born. Herod was “frightened” (2:3). Most English versions shy away from a more graphic translation of the Greek word used here but, in fact, the Greek term can also mean “to have diarrhea.” That’s probably not the response the magi expected.

Nonetheless, these mysterious magi persist in their quest. Much about these figures in Matthew is unknown. While my childhood Christmas pageants depicted them as three respectable men, they might have been neither respectable nor three. The text nowhere specifies how many there were; the common assumption is based on the number of gifts. 

The Greek term magoi can mean “magicians.” Like today, the term “magician” could have a variety of implications, not all of them positive. In the ancient world, such magicians might have been viewed with suspicion and condescension, perhaps not unlike how some of us today would view one who performs tricks like pulling a coin from behind a child’s ear at a birthday party. 

In other words, the magi who visit Jesus might have garnered respect more akin to a children’s entertainer than to the “three kings” of the Christmas carol.

Beyond the ways in which Herod’s response, as well as the number and status of the magi, might subvert our Christmas expectations, the age of the young Jesus in Matthew 2 might also differ from what we assume. 

Matthew 2:11 says the magi find the “child” with his mother. However, the Greek term used here (paidion) is not the word for a newborn or infant. Rather, most uses of the term refer to a child between the ages of 2 and 5. The magi are showing up several years too late to encounter a newborn.

The biggest surprise of Matthew’s story, however, might be that the first time Jesus is heralded by others, it is not by his own people. Rather, it is foreign Gentiles who are the first to recognize the identity of the Jewish Messiah. That was certainly not what anyone expected.

Although childhood Christmas pageants led me to expect a tidy and respectable account of Jesus’ early days, the Gospel of Matthew does not provide it. Rather, Matthew’s story is a gritty one, filled with somewhat questionable characters — the last ones we would expect to encounter Jesus first.

Nonetheless, Matthew’s surprising story may offer comfort for our own moments when the holidays don’t meet our expectations. 

Church Christmas pageant goes awry? Cookies get burned? Gifts don’t get shipped on time? 

While such frustrations might deviate from our expectations, ­Matthew’s story reminds us that even in the midst of the most unanticipated circumstances, we can still find good news. Here’s to a Christmas season that doesn’t meet our expectations.