Gifts of the Magi

Prayer

Scripture Reading

This morning’s Scripture reading is Matthew 2:1–12. It can be found on page 807 of the Bibles provided for you in the pews. While you turn there I want to preface this reading with we don’t really know when the Wise men got to see Jesus. Most scholars agree that they arrived thirteen days or so after the birth of Jesus so around January 6th. Which is where we get the 12 days of Christmas being between Christmas and the day the wise men arrived. Before we go further let us read the Word of the Lord.

“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 saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Introduction

What is the best gift you’ve ever received? For me it is actually this thing right here (lift up book bag). Three Christmases ago, Emily and I were expecting David. I knew I needed a new backpack because the one I had was old and worn down. So I asked my mom for this bag. And I wanted this bag because I could store diaper bag stuff in it alongside my stuff for work. So it was awesome to have all of that in one place and it made it to where I didn’t have to carry around a diaper bag with me. Emily knows this very well about me but I love backpacks. Like just last week I was looking at reviews of a new one that I want to get myself. So while this backpack was a great gift, arguably one of the best I’ve ever received, it will need to be replaced. But while it is arguable this is the greatest gift it really is not. The greatest gift I ever received was a baby born in a manger some 2,000 years ago. And like I mentioned about two weeks after his birth he recieved some pretty cool gifts. That of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. These gifts are what we will be looking at today.

Gold

The first gift listed is gold and the gold Jesus’ received pointed to the fact that he was a king. And not just any old king but the King of kings. Now this seems pretty obvious for those of us who have the whole Bible. We can look at things that happened after Jesus’ birth and even into Revelation. Like Revelation 19:16 “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” But there are some passages in the Old Testament that point to His Kingship such as Isaiah 9:6–7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” Jesus is king. This is something that the magi realized and wanted to gift him something worthy of a king. And I want to take a brief moment and discuss the magi. In so many nativity scenes we see three of them. We don’t know how many there were. There were at least two since it is in the plural but it could have just been two but who knows there could have been forty! Or is it even possible there were twelve to signify the number of tribes of Israel or the disciples Jesus would cal when he was doing his earthly ministry? We don’t know how many there were, all we know is that they brought three gifts which is why we usually depict three men.

I have recently been reading through the Lord of the Rings. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time but I just could never get into it. But earlier this year I gifted myself a kindle and man it is SO much easier to read through a book on that then a paper copy, just my opinion! For those of you unfamiliar with J.R.R. Tolkien’s work it is a story set in a place called middle earth where there are hobbits, elves, dwarves, men, goblins, dragons and a group of evil beasts called orcs. Now the typical orc cannot fight in the daylight but a wizard helps to create a group of them called Uruk-hai which can. There is a man in the story named Aragorn who is the King of a place called Gondor. Listen to some of the things that mentions him or that he himself says:

‘Ill enough,’ said Legolas, ‘but not yet hopeless, while we have you with us.

‘The king stays or comes at his own will,’ said Aragorn. ‘Then what are you doing here?’ they answered. ‘Why do you look out? Do you wish to see the greatness of our army? We are the fighting Uruk-hai.’ ‘I looked out to see the dawn,’ said Aragorn. ‘What of the dawn?’ they jeered. ‘We are the Uruk-hai: we do not stop the fight for night or day, for fair weather or for storm. We come to kill, by sun or moon. What of the dawn?’ ‘None knows what the new day shall bring him,’ said Aragorn. ‘Get you gone, ere it turn to your evil.’

‘Yet dawn is ever the hope of men,’ said Aragorn.

‘Nonetheless day will bring hope to me,’ said Aragorn. ‘Is it not said that no foe has ever taken the Hornburg, if men defended it?’ ‘So the minstrels say,’ said Éomer. ‘Then let us defend it, and hope!’ said Aragorn.

I don’t know about y’all but that is a king I would follow into battle. He is full of such hope against seemingly insurmountable odds. Aragorn is a great example of a great king but he is NOTHING compared to the King that we worship in Jesus Christ. The biggest reason is that Aragorn is not God which leads us to the second gift of the magi.

Frankincense

The second gift was the gift of Frankincense that pointed to Jesus’ divinity since it was useful in worship. To me the one Bible passage that sticks out when referring to Jesus as God is the beginning of John’s Gospel. John 1:1–5 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

When Herod sent the magi to celebrate the birth of this new king he thought this baby would one day replace him as ruler so he was hoping that when they returned they would tell Herod all about this baby that they found so that he could eliminate his competition. Little did Herod know that this baby boy was not just a king but that He was God Himself come to earth.

There was a television show that came out when I was younger called Hannah Montana. It starred Miley Cyrus who had a secret. She was the world famous singer, Hannah Montana. This was something she had to keep a secret from many people in her life. Now imagine being one of Miley’s friends and going to a Hannah Montana concert only to realize that it was your best friend as the lead singer! Or to put it more simply just imagine going to a concert that the lead singer was your best friend. That strange mix of familiarity and awe is a bit like what it means for Jesus to be God. He’s someone we can relate to intimately while also recognizing His divine power. It’s a joy to celebrate a God who knows us personally!

And praise be to God we do have a God who lived on this planet and knows how difficult it is to be human and to suffer the loss of loved ones or to go through the different aches and pains that we feel every day. Ever since I turned 30 there are times when I get out of bed and I’m sore and I have no idea why. Jesus would have experienced that same thing all the way up until his death which leads me to the final gift.

Myrrh

Myrrh was an embalming oil and this points to the eventual death of Jesus. Now I don’t want to get heavy on the death of Jesus since we DID just celebrate His birth but I would make the argument that the only reason we celebrate His birth is because of what He did in His death. In Jesus’ death He did the most incredible and miraculous thing. He tore the veil in the temple in two from top to bottom thus allowing us to enter the Holy of Holies where God’s presence on earth was. Paul puts it best in Romans 8:14–16 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Think about that for a moment. (PAUSE)

Paul is the same man who persecuted the church and killed apostles’ because he didn’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah. This is the same man who said that he was the chief among all sinners. This is the same man that while we were enemies with God. And yet now we have the right to call God Abba, Father. And now I want to be clear about this Abba would be very similar to what today we say as Dada. We are like infants to God. Now, if someone was my enemy or someone killed some of my friends I truly don’t know if I would adopt them as a son or daughter. But God did just that.

God did that by the death of Jesus on the cross. Now if you are here this morning and you would consider yourself an enemy of God and this doesn’t mean you are actively against Him, it could also mean that you are lukewarm, I pray that you will speak with either myself or Pastor Hansen about how you can be made right with God so that you may then call out to Him, Abba, Father.

Conclusion

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Three gifts that point to our Lord’s kingship, divinity, and death. But one thing that should not be lost on us is who these magi were. Odds are they were gentiles. We don’t know if they were magicians, or kings themselves. But the odds are extremely high that they were Gentiles and if they were Gentiles it was further proof that Jesus came to seek and save everyone. Not just those descended from Abraham. This is something that we can all take great comfort in this season. That the King above all kings, the God above all gods, lived and DIED for each and every one of us. Amen and praise be to God!

Closing Prayer

Let us pray. Oh Lord our God, thank You for Your Son. For the gift that He is to us. For the gifts that He recieved in gold, frankincense and myrrh. And what they represent as Jesus being our King, our God and His eventual death for us that we might have the ability to call You Abba, Father. We pray all of this in the name of the King Jesus. Amen.