And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Matthew 2:11
What were the gifts of the Magi? Most people will answer “that’s easy, gold, frankincense and myrrh.” And that’s true. Those gifts were important. They were symbolic of the identity of Christ. Gold for a king. Frankincense for divinity. And myrrh in anticipation of His passion. Another way of remembering these three gifts is what we hear when we receive Holy Communion: “The servant of God (your name) receives the Body and Blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, unto remission of sins and life everlasting.” Jesus Christ is our Lord, God and Savior.
These three gifts were not the only gifts of the Magi. The most precious thing we have is not what we can buy with our money. It’s our time. Because time is the commodity we can’t get back. The Magi gave the gift of time to the Lord. It was a two-year journey to Christ. The Scripture supports this because we read in the verse today that they saw Jesus as a “child”, not as a “babe” the way the shepherds did. They also saw him in a “house” not in a cave. We know that it was two years because after the Magi departed and went back to their own country “by another way,” (Matthew 2:12) Herod was angry and ordered all the male children in the surrounding country to be killed, according to the time that he had ascertained from the Magi. A two-year journey to Christ presumably led to a two-year return to their homelands (I wrote homelands in plural on purpose. While there were three gifts offered by the Magi, there is no evidence that there were only three people or that they came from one country. Most likely, there were more than three and they came from three different countries). What would they have found of their former lives having been gone for four years? Imagine if you left home for four years and had no contact with anyone back home—they might not know if you were alive or not, and probably would have moved on with their lives. The point is that the time the Magi offered probably came with an extreme degree of sacrifice.
The Magi offered trust. If I told you to take a journey to Los Angeles on foot as an example, and without a map, you’d need a lot of trust and ingenuity, but you could figure out how to do that because at least you’d have been given a destination, a goal. The Magi couldn’t stop to ask for help or directions because even they didn’t know where they were going. That’s trust right there!
The Magi offered faith. Because after they left seeing Christ, they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod but to return to their own country. The Magi weren’t warriors and contrary to the song, they probably weren’t kings either. Most likely they were astrologers and scientists. Herod had asked them to return to him and report on what they had found concerning the Christ. If Herod was so furious that he ordered the slaughter of 14,000 innocent babies and children, it certainly wouldn’t have been a stretch for him to send some soldiers after some disobedient Magi. They had to have faith that they would be kept safe.
There are only a few shopping days left to get things for our loved ones for Christmas. I would boldly say that the best gifts we can give people are not things that we can buy. Writing a meaningful note of thanks for someone is a great gift. The gift of time to spend with someone is perhaps the most meaningful gifts.
As far as our gifts to God go, we should be making a material offering through our stewardship to our respective parishes. But even more so, we should be giving Christ the gift of our time—in prayer, in reading Scripture, in worship, in charity/generosity towards others. We should be giving Him our gift of trust, that we keep walking on our Christian journey even when it takes an unexpected turn, even when we aren’t sure of where we are going. We should be giving Him our gift of faith, by being patient and obedient to His commandments.
This unit has been about “good and perfect gifts.” We know the Jesus Christ is the most good and perfect gift that humanity has ever received. What is our response to that gift? What do we meet God’s gifts to us with?
As we make our final push to the manger and the Nativity, as we make the last few days of our journey to Bethlehem, let’s remember the journey of the Magi, not just the gifts, but the time, the faith and the trust it took to make that journey. And let us offer the same, to one another and to the Lord.
Lord, thank You for the Gift of Christ that was given to the world two thousand years ago. Thank You that You are the gift that keeps on giving. As we prepare to celebrate Your Nativity once again, help me to remember the gifts of the Magi and how they honored You as Lord, God and Savior. Help us to see You in those roles in my life and to honor You appropriately in them. Help me to remember the other gifts of the Magi, the time, the trust and the faith that was needed in order to make their journey to You. In my journey to You, may I be generous with my time, help me to trust in You even when the journey is hard and unexpected things happen. And help me to be faithful to You as I journey through life. The journey of the Magi led them to You. May my journey lead me to Your heavenly kingdom. Amen.
Remember that the greatest gifts we can get for others are the ones money cannot buy. They are time, trust and faith in others. We cannot buy God. Thus the most important gifts we can give to Him are the same—time, trust and faith—the true gifts of the Magi.
