This week’s reflection for The Epiphany comes from our Assistant Priest.
Reflection
One of the things I really appreciate about living where I do is how clear the sky can be at night. Towards the end of this past year people’s attention was drawn to the night sky because of the possibility of witnessing the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on 21st December. Unfortunately, for us that evening was overcast and wet with no chance of seeing the event. However, people in other parts of the world did witness the single bright object that was created by these planets passing close together in the night sky. Because it happened so close to Christmas it has been called the Christmas or Bethlehem star. In fact, some scholars have theorized that the original Christmas star, known as the Star of Bethlehem, might also have been a great conjunction although other theories say it may have been a supernova explosion or comet. Whatever it was, it was so spectacular that it led the wise men to leave their homes and make what must have been a treacherous journey to where it led – a simple manger in Bethlehem and the Christ child.
Who were these people who abandoned everything to follow a star not knowing where it would lead?
Matthew tells us very little about them. We don’t actually know their names – it was the Venerable Bede who named them Caspar, Melchior & Balthasar. They are most usually described as wise men or Magi, the Magi being the Zoroastrian priests of the ancient Medes and Persians; men who studied the heavens and explored astrology.
The Bible doesn’t tell us much about the Magi but what it does tell us is important. It tells us that they were from foreign lands – Gentiles. Jesus came to save not just Israel but the world and here is the first evidence of that. We don’t even know how many Magi there actually were, Matthew only states that ‘wise men from the east came to Jerusalem’, but we know exactly what they gave to Jesus – gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Why does Matthew go to the trouble of identifying these specific gifts? One possibility is to demonstrate that this event fulfils Isaiah’s prophecy:
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
However, if this was Matthew’s only reason for mentioning the gifts, why include myrrh? It’s not mentioned in any prophecy so why didn’t he just say gold, frankincense and other gifts?
Each is mentioned because each of these gifts has a very special significance.
Each of the gifts the wise men brought revealed something about who Jesus was and what he came to do. The gold shows that Jesus came to rule the hearts of people as the King of kings. The frankincense speaks of Jesus’ role as our great high priest making offerings for the faithful and that Jesus came as God in the flesh – the object of our worship. The myrrh reminds us that Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. All three of the gifts foreshadowed both Jesus’ life and death.
But this was not all that the wise sages brought to the manger, for they came to give, not just their treasures to the infant Christ, but to give of themselves. They made no requests, plied him with no questions, and bombarded him with no woes, troubles or complaints. They asked nothing of him – nothing that a child couldn’t give. Yet they left content. Their journey, harsh though it must have been, had been everything for which they had hoped.
Christina Rossetti, in that beautiful hymn, In the Bleak Midwinter, wrote:
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.
How often do we simply bring our love and our treasures to God? Part of our spiritual maturing is to learn to relax in God’s presence, to enjoy the company and fellowship he gives and to experience the intimate joy of silence that exists between really close friends. That’s when he will speak and we’ll be able to hear because we won’t be cluttering up the airwaves with an interminable monologue of petitions and pleas.
God is present to support and guide all those who listen to his word and who look for the light he gives in the lives of his saints and in the stars of the heavens themselves.
The challenge in front of each of us is to make each breathing moment a gift worth giving to the King.
The Magi have shown in what spirit we must take up our own personal pilgrimage. By their humility, their willing obedience, they encourage us all to worship in spirit and in truth.
God gave himself to us because he loves us. May his love be reflected in our lives as we worship him with all that we have and in all that we say and do; that’s our gold, frankincense and myrrh. Amen.
