The wise men’s gifts
Matthew 2: 1 – 12
Rev. Peter R Green, Tuesday morning, 25 Dec, 2007

I’M A BIT upset with the Archbishop of Canterbury. I had only just selected the story of the wise men to talk about this morning when he went on TV to say he didn’t think they existed.

I’d like to talk to him.

“Arch,” I’d say ― because but he is an Archbishop ― “Arch, what’s this nonsense about the wise men being just story made up by Matthew? Just because something is uncommon or unexpected, does that mean it didn’t happen? Isn’t the gospel about unexpected things? Would you want to read it if all it said was, “Jesus was born, but nothing much happened, no one ever came, he never got presents, the most exciting thing in his life was when he tripped on a rock and skinned his knee, and got a whopping scar, and then he died.”?

And, if he said, “Pete, I know Jesus’ life was filled with interesting events, but I’ve heard stories like the wise men before in legendary lives,” I’d say,

“So what? Just about every story you hear is a bit like some other story, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

I’d tell him that the only account of Jesus’ life that we have are the gospels, and we can’t just dismiss a bit of it because it’s about usual matters.

Maybe I’d tell him some history, because I don’t think he knows much about history.

I’d say, “You are right when you say that we don’t have a separate history of these wise men, but we do know something about them. We know why they might have gone to Bethlehem. We know that the Persian court had official Astrologers whose job it was to advise the rulers. We know that they were known as Magi. We know that they studied the skies looking for clues to what was going to happen in the future. And we know that they were believers in the teachings of Zoroaster.”

Maybe the Archbishop knows about Zoroaster. Maybe he knows that the Zoroastrians believed that a Saviour would arrive around 3 BC in our counting of years.

So I’d say, “Arch, is it so strange that these astrologers should come looking for a Saviour if they believed that a Saviour was coming, and if they saw strange events in the sky?” I’d ask him if he knew that Jupiter and Venus lined up several times around 3 BC and 2 BC in a way which meant to ancient astrologers that something great was happening in Israel.

That’s what I would like to ask the Archbishop.

These wise men knew a Saviour was due to arrive, they knew that strange things were happening in the night sky, and they knew that they should do something about it. Could anything be more normal?

I guess that the first gift that these wise men brought was faith, because it took special faith to hop onto a camel and head to a distant country, not because they had received an official invitation, not because they had a verse in their writings saying, “Go to Bethlehem in Judea in 2 BC and find the Saviour there.”

What they had was a scripture saying that a Saviour would come and they should watch for a sign.

And, on that basis, they got a hamper together, gave their camels an extra drink, and headed to Bethlehem.

That is the thing that God wants of us, the thing that Jesus wants of us, and that is faith.

The Bible says,

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

It also says

Whoever comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards people who diligently seek him.

It says,

By grace you are saved through faith, and that itself is not of yourselves: it is God’s gift...

Never think of faith as being something to do with agreeing with a few doctrines. It is about trusting God enough to act.

Faith without works is dead,

because faith is what gives us the confidence and the certainty to do the things we know God wants us to do.

These Magi, these wise men, had far less than we have. They didn’t have the Bible. They didn’t have centuries of teaching about the Bible. But they saw where God was at work, and they went to get involved.

Maybe I would want to talk to the Archbishop about the gold, frankincense and myrrh. Those are the gifts we usually think about when we remember those wise men.

I think I would want to ask him if he knew where frankincense and myrrh come from. Frankincense is from a tree that is fairly common in Persia and areas east of Persia. And myrrh comes from a tree that grows in Arabia. In other words, the wise men brought stuff from their own area ― plus gold. In those days it was like in Lebanon these days, where people often wear their wealth.

We can’t prove that the wise men came, but we can say that, if they came, they would have brought something like the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Gold is wealth. Frankincense is a perfume and myrrh is a medicine. Also all three are very rare and expensive.

But the important thing we should see is that these gifts weren’t given with the idea of getting something back. What material thing could the baby of a poor family give to these kings? They were just going to give the gifts and go again. Mary and Joseph were living in a house by now, but there was nowhere special to put kings up in. They were just visitors for the day.

We should think about gifts like this. God looks for people who give, and don’t need to take all the time.

God is not a prostitute. He doesn’t give the best service to the best payer. He just loves generous givers. The Bible tells us that. God loves to give, and he loves to see us giving also, because that shows we are growing up like our Father. We are made to give, and we enjoy life best when we give to others.

And I would like to talk to the Archbishop about how those wise men gave a way of escape to Mary, Joseph and their little boy. Herod was a tyrant. The wise men knew that he wasn’t about to worship anyone else, because tyrants worship themselves.

These wise men could have said, “It’s not our business. The Government has asked us for information, so let’s obey the rules and tell what we know, and be on our way,” Instead, they went home by another way and gave Mary and Joseph space to escape.

Mary and Joseph were what we would call internal refugees these days. Politics and economics had driven them away from their home towns to start again in a new place.

We live in a world where there are many refugees, and Governments often kick them when they are down instead of lifting them up.

These wise men weren’t about to give Herod a chance to kick Jesus when he was weak.

They gave them the chance to get away and move on. This time they went to Egypt, and stayed until it was safe to come back to Judea.

I would want the Archbishop to think carefully before he dispensed with the wise men.

The story isn’t so strange if you know the facts.

And it is a great illustration of giving.

It illustrates how the wise men brought faith, how they brought gifts worthy of a king, and how they brought the gift of safety to Jesus and his family.

Jesus said that when we give a thirsty person a drink, when we give a hungry person food, when we visit prisoners and the sick, when we care for the homeless, we do it to him.

He said,

Inasmuch as you have done it to one of these, the least of my brothers, you have done it to me.

I want to encourage us this Christmas morning to follow their pattern.

First, come to Jesus with your faith to follow him, because that is the way of salvation and life.

Then bring what you have to him as a gift of love, because what he wants above all is for every one of us to give ourselves to him. That is what real worship is about ― giving ourselves to God through Jesus.

Finally, once you are his follower, give to the needs of others, because that, too, is how we give our gifts to Jesus.

May the blessing of Jesus be on your life and in your heart from today and forever more.

AMEN

© Peter R. Green 2007. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)