The Third Gift
December 13, 2009 by aubrey
Filed under Devotionals
Contrary to popular belief, the magi were not kings, there is no reason to think they were three in number, and they almost certainly did not have a star leading them across the desert to Jerusalem. They did, however, give three gifts. O.Henry is famous for his short story, The Gift of the Magi. I want to write a bit about the Third Gift.
The magi were educated, powerful and wealthy men who were evidently in possession of an ancient prophecy that is no longer extant, a prophecy not found in the Old Testament. This prophecy predicted that the greatest of rulers would one day be born “the King of the Jews.” Where this prophecy came from and how long they had it is anybody’s guess. It must have also indicated that the birth of this sovereign would be announced by a star arising in the east; something new and wonderful in the sky. When this heavenly body appeared it would portend the birth of a king, of The King. It sounds like something out of The Lord of the Rings – except it’s entirely true.
Alone of all the citizens of earth, the magi knew what the star signified.
To find the King of the Jews, where to go except to Jerusalem? And so they got out their maps and made their way to the city of David. Once they arrived, their conduct seems to assume that everyone would know what they knew: the King of the Jews had been born! But when they asked where they could find him, everyone was at a loss, and the question threw the city into an uproar. Herod the Great, (whose official title was “King of the Jews”) summoned the magi and interviewed them carefully. He especially wanted to know when exactly this star had appeared. He then told them that the Hebrew Scriptures, which made no mention of the star, did reveal where the king would be born: Bethlehem, a little town just five miles to the south. The magi immediately departed, and to their “exceedingly great joy” the star they had last seen months ago reappeared! Moreover, this time it went before them and led them directly to the house in which the holy family was residing. (Evidently only the magi could see the star.) Only a few hours after their meeting with King Herod, they found themselves meeting the little boy whom the star had declared was in reality the King of the Jews. They then did something amazing: “They fell down and worshiped him.”
Somehow they understood this boy was more than king, He was God come down to man, Immanuel.
They gave their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and left. (These fabulously expensive gifts probably enabled the holy family to survive while refugees in Egypt.) That night, the magi had a dream in which they were warned not to inform Herod as to the lad’s whereabouts. Joseph also had a dream in which he was warned to flee immediately for Egypt. They left that night.
Remember, Bethlehem was less than two hours from Jerusalem. It didn’t take Herod long to realize the magi were on to him and weren’t going to serve as his informants. Furious, he gave the infamous command for which he is most remembered: he ordered the deaths of every boy age two and under, in and around Bethlehem. If he couldn’t identify who the boy was, he’d kill all the boys! And to think, Herod himself would be dead within the year, suffering a slow and horrible demise. When Herod’s executioners rode into Bethlehem, the holy family may have been no more than a few miles to the west, hurrying down the road to Egypt.
Matthew quotes the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, to describe the tragedy in Bethlehem.
"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more." (2:18)
These words convey a terrible grief. An entire generation of boys murdered. Every family in Bethlehem would have felt the horror, for if they did not lose a son, they would have likely had a grandson or a nephew or a cousin slain. Think of it in modern terms: imagine a school in which, in two whole grades, there is not a single boy! The mothers were inconsolable, Only one family escaped the horror, only one boy survived, only one mother escaped the grief, and that by only a few hours.
But the truth is, that Mary did not escape, for though her son would avoid Herod’s sword, he would surrender to Pilate’s. Five miles and thirty years away Bethlehem’s lone survivor could be found on the road not to Egypt but to Golgotha, not a toddler being carried in his mother’s arms, but a man carrying a cruel cross.
It is at this point that Luke tells us part of the story that Matthew does not, but amazingly he employs the very same words; "And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him." (Luke 23:27)
It was not by accident those remarkable and prescient magi gave as their third and final gift myrrh. Myrrh was a perfume used to prepare the bodies of the dead. It was a fragrance used to mask the odor of decomposition, to cover the stench of death. According to John 19:31, it was one of the fragrances used to wrap the corpse of Christ. Like carnations in a funeral parlor, myrrh conveys the scent of the tomb.
Those remarkable magi saw not only a king worthy of their gold and a God worthy of their incense, they saw also the looming shadow of grief and the unmistakable scent of death. And so they gave their myrrh. Not one son in Bethlehem would live to old age. All would die premature and violent deaths. But One, like the star in the east, would rise again to live forever.
Death would give way to life, grief to joy. And not just for Him, but for all the sons and daughters who would believe in Him. Did the magi understand this part of the mystery? Did the mothers of Bethlehem? Did they know the boy who escaped would return to save them? I doubt it. But they do now. And so do we. Hallelujah. AAJ
kamagra uk on Thu, 17th Dec 2009 11:04 pm
Interesting and informative. But will you write about this one more?