“And
What Gift Will You Bring?”
The account of the traveling Magi is most often associated with
Christmas Eve and the birth of Jesus.
After all, every self-respecting Christmas bathrobe pageant has its
three Wiseman. However, if we desire to
follow scripture closely, the appearance of the Wisemen
does not actually occur on the night of the nativity but several days later,
perhaps even weeks after Jesus’ birth.
When they arrive they
bring with them their precious gifts for baby Jesus in recognition of his
divine kingship: Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. All gifts befitting royalty.
Today as we celebrate Epiphany, (the appearance of God on the
earth), I ask us to put ourselves in the shoes of the Magi, and consider what
gift we might bring to our newborn king?
What is, then, a suitable and appropriate gift for such a new born
king? As we think about this, let us
remember that given their understanding and perspective on what they were doing
the Magi brought to Jesus the most valuable items they could imagine; a
precious metal –Gold; a sacred and fragrant oil
– Frankincense, and the scarce and exotic spice Myrrh.
But what do we bring?
What do we have at our disposal that would make a suitable gift to a
divine king? What can we offer to Jesus
– the very Son of God?
To help us answer this question let us look closely at whom
these Magi likely were and why they are important to the gospel of
Matthew wishes us to hear.
In Matthew’s text, Herod refers to these visiting dignitaries
as the MAGI. Over the centuries this
Greek term MAGI has been variously translated into English as King, as Wiseman,
as Philosopher, and most recently as Astrologer.
In all honesty, no one quite knows just what the Greek term
MAGI meant. Clearly though, the term is
meant to refer to someone who was important and respected in society at that
time. The MAGI, whoever and whatever
they actually were, they were apparently influential figures who caused a bit
of a stir as they traveled. To say much
more than this about the Magi, However, is to go beyond the text. (Tell joke about recently discovered evidence
that one of them was actually a woman. Obviously one of them was a woman,
because Matthew tells us they stopped to ask directions, and three men would
never have done THAT!)
Scholarly opinion has most recently settled on the notion that
the MAGI were astrologers for several reasons.
Astrology, at the time of Jesus’ birth had the status of a quasi-science
in Ancient Near Cultures. From the Babylonians to the Persians
astrology was enormously influential in society. Astrology’s influence stretched from the
courts of kings to the daily practice of various pagan religious rituals.
Consequently, astrologers were afforded a high degree of
respect and esteem by society.
Astrologers were seen as able to predict the future and discern the will
of the gods by reading and observing the alignment of the stars. In that time period, astrologers were seen as
something akin to how we view physicists and other scientists today. Astrologers possessed a knowledge the average
person did not. Astrologers were
educated and were considered a part of the learned class in society. As a result of this high regard they studied
and practiced their craft in the highest circles of influence and power of the
day.
So, then, to have a traveling group of
these wise men come through town would have indeed caused quite a
commotion. However, to have King Herod
summon them for a visit to the palace would have been nothing out of the
ordinary. In fact, such a command
appearance would have been customary.
From the perspective of Matthew’s Jewish
readers, these MAGI were outsiders, pagans, Gentiles. Taken within the larger scope of the gospel
as a whole their appearance gives us a first glimpse of who Jesus is and what
his advent will mean for both Israel and the Gentiles.
As outsiders, the MAGI would not have known of Israelite
messianic prophecies. They were not part
of the inner circle. We know they
were outsiders because they had to rely upon Herod’s priests to tell them
to follow the star to
You see, the MAGI represent the extension of God’s concern
beyond
From
the plain sense of the text, the MAGI were people who did not know what they
were following. They sensed that
something special was happening but they did not understand what God was
doing. Yet, they gave it their all. Confronted by the mystery of this star, they
gathered up the gifts they considered valuable and took off after something
they really did not understand.
When they came close to the end of their
journey they encountered Herod and his court.
After meeting with Herod and receiving instructions to report back to
Herod what they found in
These traveling astrologers and their
actions provide us with much food for thought as we consider what gift we can
offer to the newborn king.
What can we offer to the newborn king that
would be a suitable gift? Can we in some
way duplicate the efforts of the MAGI and bring to God the things we value;
precious metals, valuable oils and spices.
If we wanted to copy their efforts today what would we give? What would we bring?
Well we certainly value money.
Could we bring money to this newborn king? Maybe we could, in a way that is what
stewardship is all about. Through our
stewardship we offer to God money for God to use. Yet, even if we possessed all the money in
the world it would not be suitable gift.
For God is greater than all of the combined wealth in the world.
We also, to varying degrees, value our possessions: our
electronic toys; our computers, I-pods, Big Screen TVs and home theatre
systems, cell phones etc. No, none of
these would really be suitable. Such
gifts would seem inadequate for a divine king.
Certainly, we value our homes and our cars. No, again, such things, no matter how fancy
or elaborate they may be, seem inadequate and unsuitable gifts.
What else do we value that we could offer? Most of the things we seem to value are
material things. Our
money, our possessions, etc. In
truth, while we may value these things, money and possessions are not
inherently valuable. In a fundamental
way material things have only the value we assign to them. They are not inherently valuable.
However, we do have something of inherent value and worth which
we can offer as a gift to the newborn king; ourselves. Each one of us is alive and the gift of life
is inherently valuable because it has been given by God.
We know human life is valued by God
because God sent us Jesus Christ to redeem us and to draw us home to God. That is the message we hear in the gospel
from beginning to end; from the birth of Christ in a humble stable to his
humiliating death on cross, and ultimately to his glorious resurrection, we
discover a God that values human life so
much that God would sacrifice everything to save it. God values you and me so much that God would
do anything to save us from falling away from life with God.
It is, then, our life itself which is a
suitable gift for the newborn king. Our thoughts, our emotions, our actions,
everything which contributes to making us a whole human being, is worthy and
suitable as a gift to the newborn king.
However, I’m not sure we really believe we
are worthy of giving ourselves to Christ.
We worry about being inadequate disciples. We criticize ourselves for being less than we
think we can be. We feel in our hearts
that we don’t love others as we should.
We feel bad about ourselves because we judge others, when we know we are
not to judge. We do not feel worthy of
being a suitable gift to God.
But we are! At
least God thinks so. God thinks we are
worth everything. God thinks so much of
us that God would lower God’s self to become one of us, to live as we live;
filled with doubt and insecurity. The
good news in the gospel is that we are worthy; worthy of being gifts to the
newborn king.
Without a doubt, we have a distinct advantage over the
MAGI. The MAGI did not know who God was
as they followed after the star, much less could they
have known what God wanted from them.
They acted as we would have expected them to act, in the face of a great
mystery they simply gave what they valued most – material things.
In contrast, we know the gospel story from beginning to end, we
know that God values us and wants us more than anything else. Truly, our life itself is our most valuable
asset. God chose to come to us in Jesus
Christ because God wanted us, not because God wanted our material possessions.
It is our challenge to live in such a way that we accept just
how valuable we are to God. It is our
challenge to accept that we are worthy of serving God. It is our challenge to accept that we are
worthy of witnessing to his love to those around us. It is our challenge to know in our heart of
hearts that we are loved and accepted by God. What better gift could we give to
our newborn king than our very lives?
So, then may we live lives of service dedicated to serving our
king –The Lord Jesus Christ. The same
Lord who lay nestled in the arms of his mother Mary. The same Lord who willingly
climbed up a cross to die for us.
The same Lord who broke free from the bonds of death
in order that we, each one of us, may have eternal life.
May the gift we bring to the baby Jesus be ourselves. May all that we think, all that we feel, all
that we do, be in the name of our King Christ Jesus. So may it be. Amen.
Reverend Marc V. Mason
Epiphany 2006 / 1-1-2006
Trinity Presbyterian Church
Travelers Rest, SC