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January 6, 2010

Gifts for the King

Preacher: Rev. Jack Meehan Series: Lectionary Category: Biblical Scripture: Matthew 2:1–2:12

The Feast of the Epiphany

January 6, 2010
Matthew 2:1-12
 “Gifts for the King”

The gift-giving season has come and gone. The presents under the Christmas tree have all been opened, and life has resumed its usual pace now that we’ve entered into the New Year. But wait! Today is the twelfth day and final day of Christmas that we sing about in that carol with twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, and so on. January 6 brings to a dramatic conclusion the Christmas season with the Epiphany of Our Lord. Sadly, this day here in the west is overlooked and all but forgotten. Not so in the east! Within eastern branches of the Christian Church, January 6 is the actual celebration of Jesus’ birth, and it is a day of great celebration and rejoicing. Epiphany means to show forth, to manifest. As those mysterious visitors from the east, the wise men, appear on Mary and Joseph’s doorstep with their wildly extravagant gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Jesus is shown forth, manifested, to the world: Jews and Gentiles. Jesus has come for all. The message on this Epiphany evening is entitled, “Gifts for the King.” May the Lord’s rich blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word, for Jesus’ sake.

As we consider Matthew’s account of the coming of the wise men to worship Jesus, let’s take a look at each of the gifts that they brought to honor him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. First, let’s consider the gift of gold. Then as now, gold was an expensive commodity. Not everybody could afford it, but kings certainly could. By giving gold to the Christ Child, the wise men acknowledge that here is a king, even though he is just a baby. But what sort of a king is this? He has no palace or servants; none of the trappings associated with royalty. Remember the words of the angel to Mary before Jesus was born: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and it’s nothing like kings and kingdoms, power and authority, like what we’re used to. It’s a short distance from the crib to the cross, and it’s here at the cross that we see what kind of a king Jesus really is. Hanging on that cross, the inscription over his head reads: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” (John 19:19). But already with the coming of the wise men, Jesus’ kingship is not just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles; for the whole world. Here is a king who willingly offers his life as payment for his people’s sins. The wise men’s gift of gold doesn’t translate into a crown of gold that Jesus wears. Instead, he is crowned with thorns, and his throne is the wood of the cross. With the wise men’s gift of gold, they are telling the world: “See, here is your King.” 

The second gift that the wise men brought to honor Jesus was frankincense, a fragrant gum resin burned as incense. Frankincense is usually found in small whitish beads or chunks that were ground into powder, giving off an odor like balsam when burned. In many religious rituals, Jewish, Christian, and pagan, incense was and is used in worship, signifying a fragrant and purifying offering to God. By offering this gift, the wise men are proclaiming to the world that here is God, held in the arms of his mother. God as a baby? For many, the mystery of God as a helpless infant, the Word-made-flesh, doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t God come down from heaven in all his glory and power? Through the eyes of faith, we understand that God has come down, not in glory and power, but in humility and servanthood; not to overwhelm and terrify us, but to save us.

The third gift that the wise men brought to honor Jesus was myrrh, called smryna in Greek, an aromatic orange-colored resin from the small, thorny trees of the Commiphora family. Myrrh was expensive – some accounts indicate it was seven times as valuable as gold – and highly valued for use in perfumes, anointing oil, medicine, and embalming – preparing the dead for burial. On Calvary, Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh as a pain killer (Mark 15:23), and was also buried with this substance (John 19:39). In offering this gift, the wise men point forward to Jesus’ sacrifice of himself, and to the words of Scripture: “… he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

Gold for a king, frankincense for God, and myrrh for the sacrifice – gifts for Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. But what gift do we offer? The words of Christina Rosetti, from her poem, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” capture the essence of what the real gift is that we can offer in response to God’s gift to us in his Son:

             What can I give him, poor as I am?
            If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
            If I were a wise man, I would do my part.
            Yet, what can I give him?
            Give my heart.

 On this Feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Jesus as King, and God, and Sacrifice to the world, may the gift we give to him be the gift of our heart. Amen.

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