Midweek Advent 4 (2024)

Myrrh for Anointing

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our final gift is the gift of Myrrh which will serve as a bit of a sobering reminder of why it is that Christ came into the world. It reminds us of Christ’s great work for our salvation, and who He is as our Savior. So let us examine the Scriptures and see why this gift was offered up to Christ as the wise men fell down to worship Jesus.

In our Old Testament, we see a connection with not just the priesthood, but with the entire worship service. There was a special blend of oil that was prepared to anoint, not just Aaron and his sons who would serve as the High Priests in the presence of God, but it would anoint everything in the worship space.

It was a holy anointing oil, which means that it was set apart for a special purpose. It would anoint the not only the tent, but the ark, the lampstand, utensils, and altar of incense. Now the tent was made of animal skins, and we apply oils to leather still today. But this was also applied to the gold which didn’t need to be preserved. So it was part of an aromatic perfume that was special to the worship life.

In Bible Study on Sunday, we had talked about the smells of the Bible, and this would be quite the aroma as you come before the Lord. A much more pleasant smell than the other topics that came up that day.

Furthermore, this mixture of anointing oil was not to be poured on the body of any ordinary person, but it was to be set apart as holy and holy especially to the people of Israel. Warning that whoever put this mixture on someone who was an outsider was cut off from his people. For this was to indicate who would serve as priests of God.

You might wonder well what does all this anointing oil matter, and what’s the big deal? Well Jesus is the Christ, The Messiah, it’s not just his last name. It comes from the verbs which mean to anoint with sacred oil. He is anointed, and set apart as Holy for the work of God which was to save God’s people.

Now in our Gospel Lesson for tonight the body of Christ is anointed by Nicodemus, who was a pharisee that came to speak with Jesus at night, and bring 75lbs of myrrh and aloe to anoint the body of Jesus.

At the beginning of the Gospel of John, it says that the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. That sounds better in english, then the Word tented or tabernacled amongst us. But you lose a bit of the theology, the tent of meeting was anointed with oil for a special purpose, and here the body of Christ is anointed with special purpose. For He is the one through whom we have access to the Father.

This access came through His death, not through our works, or our piety, or anything else. We have access to God through Jesus. Who was not only the high priest, that would intercede for us, but would also lay down his life to that we might have access to God our Father in Heaven.

The Myrrh points us to His death. That sword that would pierce Mary’s heart, should pierce our hearts too. For this child whose birth we celebrate, was born to die for our sins. We give thanks for it, and we rejoice that He was born, but its a sobering reminder that in a few months, we will gather together as He goes to accomplish this great and mighty work that none of us could do.

We are reminded of the cost of our sins on this day. It is also why it is appropriate to offer up to Jesus worship and praise as the wise men did. Jesus was born to save us, and to do what no one else could accomplish, he was anointed for this purpose by Father. For He was born to redeem us from the wages of sin, and death and everything we have deserved for our sins.

It is by being united with Jesus’ death that we are saved. For the Holy one, thus anointed would not see suffer corruption, but would rise on the 3rd day. He would leave His grave having offered up the Sacrifice that was required for our salvation, the holy and precious blood of Christ that would cover all of our sins.

That is what we receive tonight, the true body and blood of Christ at the Altar, in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgivness of our sins and our salvation. For Christ gives to you of that sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins and salvation. For He was born to give us life for us, that we might live eternally.

Jesus is our king, our priest, the one anointed by God to accomplish our salvation. That is why we gather around on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to sing praises to this child that was born in Bethlehem. These wisemen traveled a great distance to worship a child because a star had risen in the sky. You and I, we know that this isn’t just the King of the Jews. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We know many of the miracles that he will perform, we know that the wind and waves obey him, that he has the power over life, and death, and that He shall lay down his life for our sake.

So my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow the example of these wise men, and set aside time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to worship your Lord, Your God, as we celebrate his Birth. For He was born to rescue and save us from our sins. May we also invite others to come and join us as well. For we are not worried about making the mistake of speaking to a bloodthirsty king, but our neighbors, our friends, and our families. For they too should come and join us in worshiping the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God himself, Jesus Christ our Lord. In his name. Amen.