Introduction

· Shopping-getting the right gifts-kids used to be easy. They made their list for Santa, and then . . . But now, they're grown, and very difficult to buy for. This year, we resorted to money. Didn't like doing that, but they liked getting it!! But here's the deal, before we've recovered from Christmas, we face bunches of birthdays: Casey, 1/20; Daniel, 1/21; Laura & Melissa, 2/4.

· So tired of shopping. Aren't you?

· Some of you will be tempted, no doubt, to wander into a few stores to sample the sale items.

· Text: Matthew 2:1-12.

· Some rather intriguing characters. I find myself particularly interested in Herod. Herod? Quite a fellow. Great builder, cunning diplomat, paranoid. But we'll save him for another day.

1. The Men Who Came

· What of these wise men--these Magi? Setting. Quite a time after Jesus' birth. Mary and Joseph are now living in a house. What's a nativity scene without wise men?

· ATR: Wise men from the east (μαγοι ἀπο ἀνατολων ). Herodotus speaks of a tribe of Magi among the Medians. Among the Persians there was a priestly caste of Magi like the Chaldeans in Babylon (Dan. 1:4). It is the same word as our “magician” and it sometimes carried that idea as in the case of Simon Magus (Acts 8:9, 11) and of Elymas Barjesus (Acts 13:6, 8). But here in Matthew the idea seems to be rather that of astrologers. Babylon was the home of astrology, but we only know that the men were from the east whether Arabia, Babylon, Persia, or elsewhere. The notion that they were kings arose from an interpretation of Isa. 60:3:

· Is 60:3 (NASB95) “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.

· The idea that they were three in number is due to the mention of three kinds of gifts (gold, frankincense, myrrh), but that is no proof at all. Legend has added to the story that the names were Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior and also that they represent Shem, Ham, and Japhet. A casket in the Cologne Cathedral actually is supposed to contain the skulls of these three Magi. The word for east (ἀποανατολων [apoanatolōn]) means “from the risings” of the sun.

· For we saw his star in the east (εἰδομεν γαρ αὐτου τον ἀστερα ἐν τῃ ἀνατολῃ). This does not mean that they saw the star which was in the east. That would make them go east to follow it instead of west from the east. The words “in the east” are probably to be taken with “we saw” i.e. we were in the east when we saw it, or still more probably “we saw his star at its rising” or “when it rose.”

2. The Gifts They Gave

a) Gold

· A little under $900/oz on 12/30/08

b) Frankincense

· Obtained from the leafy forest tree Boswellia Thurifera, with leaves deciduous. The trees on the Somali coast grow, without soil, out of polished marble rocks, to which they are attached by a thick oval mass of substances resembling a mixture of lime and mortar. The young trees furnish the most valuable gum, the older yielding merely a clear, glutinous fluid, resembling coral varnish. To obtain the Frankincense, a deep, longitudinal incision is made in the trunk of the tree and below it a narrow strip of bark 5 inches in length is peeled off. When the milk-like juice which exudes has hardened by exposure to the air, the incision is deepened. In about three months the resin has attained the required degree of consistency, hardening into yellowish 'tears.' The large, clear globules are scraped off into baskets and the inferior quality that has run down the tree is collected separately. The season for gathering lasts from May till the middle of September, when the first shower of rain puts a close to the gathering for that year.

· The coast of Southern Arabia is yearly visited by parties of Somalis, who pay the Arabs for the privilege of collecting Frankincense, and in the interior of the country, during the southwest Monsoon, Frankincense and other gums are gathered by the Bedouins.

· Fox News (Thursday , July 31, 2008)

· A study published in Thursday’s edition of Arthritis Research & Therapy suggests an enriched extract of the frankincense herb may reduce symptoms of osteoarthritis. Patients who took the herb Boswellia serrata reported a reduction in pain and increase in mobility in as little as seven days, according to the study's authors. The herb was enriched with 30 percent AKBA (3-O-acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid), which exhibits potential anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting the 5-lipoxygenase enzyme. This enzyme transforms essential fatty acids into leukotrienes, which use signals to regulate the body's response to inflammation.

· NY Times (July 17, 2008)

· Pharmacologists in Israel have found that frankincense, a whitish resin tapped from the veins of a shrubby tree, relieves anxiety and depression, at least in mice. In an article to be published next month in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and elsewhere report that the active ingredient in frankincense lights up brain receptors that play a role in the perception of warmth on the skin and might help regulate emotion. Across town at Stick, Stone and Bone, a light-filled metaphysical establishment on Christopher Street, the store manager, Heather Hayden, offered her own idiosyncratic theory of frankincense. “Anything that came from a tree has its own frequency encryption,” Ms. Hayden said. “When you breathe in certain plant medicinals, they give off an ectoplasmal vibration. And when you breathe in ectoplasmal frequencies, your major glands begin to be able to translate the neural code. Your glands are actually liquid morphogenic crystals.” Frankincense in particular, she added, “has the ability to generate this really powerful force field that has been shown to be able to neutralize and transmute what we call disharmonic energy fields.” So far, science hasn’t confirmed those properties, nor has it shown incense’s effect on species higher than rodents.The researchers injected mice with incensole acetate, the active ingredient in frankincense, and put them through various behavioral paces. The mice exposed to frankincense were willing to tarry longer in open spaces, where they generally feel vulnerable to attack, indicating a dip in anxiety. When forced to swim in a beaker from which there was no escape, they paddled longer before giving up and floating, a behavior associated with antidepressive compounds. (No one ever said nondepressive behavior was the most logical response to a situation.) The study’s lead author, Arieh Moussaieff, now at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, said the findings resonated with prescriptions that go back to the Talmud, where it is written that “the prisoner condemned to death was given Boswellia in a cup of wine so as to benumb the senses.”

· Fred Horton, John T. Albritton Professor of the Bible at Wake Forest-Reverence for frankincense began long before Jesus' time. The Egyptians used hundreds of pounds of it per funeral. When King Tutankhamen's tomb was opened 3,000 years after his death, the scientists found the smell of frankincense was still heavy in the air. Greeks used the resin to honor their heroes, and the Romans later used it to cure soldiers' skin infections and bruises. The Chinese sent their precious porcelain to Africa by boat to trade it for frankincense which they used to improve respiratory health. Sweet-smelling frankincense also had historic religious importance. It was one ingredient in the incense burned in the temple of ancient Israel and other holy sites. It is still thought today by some that the smoke of incense carries prayers up to God.

· Many estimate that at that time, translated into modern money, frankincense would have cost $500 per pound.

c) Myrrh

· Botanical: Commiphora myrrha. Description---The bushes yielding the resin do not grow more than 9 feet in height, but they are of sturdy build, with knotted branches, and branchlets that stand out at right-angles, ending in a sharp spine. Botanically, there is still uncertainty about the origin and identity of the various species. There are ducts in the bark, and the tissue between them breaks down, forming large cavities, which, with the remaining ducts, becomes filled with a granular secretion which is freely discharged when the bark is wounded, or from natural fissures. It flows as a pale yellow liquid, but hardens to a reddish-brown mass, being found in commerce in tears of many sizes, the average being that of a walnut. The surface is rough and powdered, and the pieces are brittle, with a granular fracture, semi-transparent, oily, and often show whitish marks. The odour and taste are aromatic, the latter also acrid and bitter. It is inflammable, but burns feebly. Several species are recognized in commerce.

· Fred Horton, John T. Albritton Professor of the Bible at Wake Forest- Myrrh was far more rare in the era of Jesus' birth. Arab men drank it mixed with fragrant liquids to cure baldness. In India, the resin was used to cure obesity and prolong life. The Chinese mixed it with breastmilk to cure diaper rash.

· Myrrh would have cost $4,000 per pound.

· Fred Horton, John T. Albritton Professor of the Bible at Wake Forest-At the time of Jesus' birth, gold, frankincense and myrrh were traditional gifts given to royalty in the Middle East. Though they were presented to a baby born in a Bethlehem stable instead of one born in a royal palace, the presents signified loyalty and reverence for a king. Gold, frankincense and myrrh were very highly valued in Middle Eastern culture at that time. "Most Palestinian Jews of the first century would have been unable to afford such gifts," Horton says. While much is known about the gifts themselves, the bearers, known as the Magi or "Wise Men," remain somewhat mysterious to modern scholars.

· JFB-gold, frankincense, and myrrh—That the gold was presented to the infant King in token of His royalty; the frankincense in token of His divinity, and the myrrh, of His sufferings; or that they were designed to express His divine and human natures; or that the prophetical, priestly, and kingly offices of Christ are to be seen in these gifts; or that they were the offerings of three individuals respectively, each of them kings, the very names of whom tradition has handed down—all these are, at the best, precarious suppositions. But that the feelings of these devout givers are to be seen in the richness of their gifts, and that the gold, at least, would be highly serviceable to the parents of the blessed Babe in their unexpected journey to Egypt and stay there—that much at least admits of no dispute

Conclusion

· What do you buy for the person who has it all? Most (if not all) of us have had or still have that one person or more who doesn't need anything. They've got all they need and more. Yet we still have that obligation to do something. Often we wind-up buying something really dumb and wasting a lot of money.

· One person in your life that you never have to shop for: Jesus. Though he has it all (cattle on a thousand hills), he still deserves a gift; however, no shopping for him is required. And, you don’t have to take a trip to Africa and whack open a tree to get sap for frankincense or myrrh.

· What do you think would be the most appropriate gift you could bring to the Savior?

· Yourself, of course. You're what he wants. What better way to kick off 2009 that to renew your commitment to him?

· As you come for communion, I'm going to ask that you renew your commitment to the Lord.

Hymn #389 Freely, Freely