January 7, 2024

The Gift of Acceptance

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

The Gospel reading today is a wonderful story, one that resonates with everyone, and people can’t help wanting to know more about it. The few details about it that Matthew provides have resulted in many stories and traditions filling in many of the details to flush out this story. In fact, most of the color in the story has been added after-the-fact and are not in the Gospel. The Magi in the story are not numbered, let alone named, although there being three gifts, three Magi seems reasonable. They are from the East, so Persia, Arabia, even Ethiopia could be possibilities, and so many traditions show one of each of the Magi wearing these regions' traditional clothing. They are called Magi, but we often refer to them as kings, probably from the allusion to our first reading from Isaiah which Matthew clearly had in mind but, once again, did not actually use the term kings. And as for calling them wise men, we know that they were wise, since they sought God, but the term Magi is not gender specific, so one, some, or maybe all of the Magi could have been women. But you know that they weren’t women – women would never have brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to a newborn baby. Maybe diapers, onesies, and cute little knitted booties: royal purple, of course, fit for a king. Men, if they thought about it at all, would have grabbed the first color onesie off of the shelf at Walmart without even thinking. Oh, and women would never have tipped of King Herod – they would have asked for better directions long before getting to Jerusalem.

So this begs the question: why did these wise men bring the three gifts that they did? As with any of the details that the evangelists decide to include into their Gospels, and Matthew in particular, they are highly symbolic and carry great meaning. Much of the symbolism here may be lost on most modern people who don’t use much frankincense and probably don’t even know what myrrh is. I say “most people” because I looked it up: you can still buy both on Amazon.

Let’s start with the easy one: gold. It retains the same meaning in modern times that it did in ancient ones. Gold stands for wealth, value, worthiness. This baby is to be the King of the Jews, and so it is appropriate that a gift should symbolize that which all good kings both have and should bring to the people that they rule. And God gifts us, his creation, with that same value and worthiness as individuals. We are made in his image, and therefore we are, as God is, good as gold.

The next one is a little harder: frankincense. This is a resin that comes from the trunk of the Boswellia tree, and is still used today as a fragrance in soaps, perfumes, and lotions. All Catholics are familiar with its odor since it is the most popular fragrance used by churches for incensing at Mass. When we incense here at St. James, what you smell is frankincense, although, I will say that we recently switched to a hypo-allergenic synthetic frankincense to reduce the irritation that some have to the natural resin. So what meaning does this gift have? Psalm 141 clues us in: “Let my prayer be incense before you” [Psalm 141:2a NABRE]. The Book of Revelations also speaks to it: “Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones” [Revelation 5:8b]. In other words, incense is a visible representation of our prayers, of our relationship to God. It goes out and up, finding its way to God. In return, God gives us the gifts of his Son and his Spirit. The relationship is complete. To that extent, incense is a sacramental, it is like a sacrament, that is to say, a visible sign of an invisible reality. Visible smoke representing the invisible but real relationship of love between God and us.

Finally, the hardest: myrrh. Like frankincense, this is also a tree sap that comes from the bark of a tree [Commiphora myrrham]. It can also be used as incense, but it was used more commonly at the time of Christ as a drug or in embalming. In Mark’s Gospel, it is mixed with wine and given to Jesus just before they nailed him to the cross, even the cruel executioners trying to reduce the pain of crucifixion a little bit, although Christ refused to drink it [Mark 15:23]. Then in John’s Gospel, he tells us that Nicodemus brought 100 pounds of myrrh and aloes with Jesus after his death to the tomb for the preparation of the body for burial [John 19:39]. So in the New Testament, we have myrrh representing suffering and death. Not the best baby gift, maybe. But that is the way of God. Mary has been given two signs about Christ’s passion and death: last week Gospel had Simeon’s prophecy at the presentation in the temple of the suffering of both Jesus and Mary [Luke 2:34-35], and now this week with the gift of myrrh.

So what does this story of the Magi tells us, sitting here in the year 2024? We are winding up the Christmas season, the season dedicated to our celebration of the incarnation, God assuming flesh and dwelling among us. With this story of the Epiphany, Jesus teaches us the lesson of acceptance. He accepted these gifts. He teaches us, in return, to accept the gifts that he offers back to us. Gold: he is the King of the Universe, and in return, God made us in his image and, as adopted sons and daughters, we have intrinsic value as individuals and an inheritance in that kingdom. Frankincense: God came to be one of us in the incarnation, and he is still with us in his Spirit. He is always with us, whether we sense that invisible but real bond of love or not. Myrrh: Jesus accepted his suffering as the will of the Father, and we too will experience suffering and death in this life. But the fact that these gifts are given together is the important thing: We are loved and valued by God, God is with us, and, despite suffering and death, we are assured of the ultimate outcome, the salvation that Christ brings. At baptism, we accepted these gifts, the same as he accepted the gifts of the Magi. If we continue to accept the gifts of God, the promises of Christ, we too will be blessed in the Kingdom of God.

As we continue with the Liturgy of the Eucharist, let us fully and graciously accept another gift Christ gave us: his Body and Blood. May it strengthen us to live as God’s children. If we do so sincerely, we, like the Magi, will find Christ. If we do so, we, like the Magi, will also be compelled to worship him, and that is what this Mass is all about.