Wise Men and Their Gifts

Wise Men and Their Gifts

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas

January 5, 2014; The Feast of the Epiphany (tr.), Year A

Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Matthew 2:1-12)  In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

`And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

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The story of the visit of the magi has captured the imagination and wonder of centuries of Christians.  Who were these wise men from the East?  What was the star that they followed?  What about the dangerous drama played out in their visitation with King Herod?  And… What is the meaning of their gifts:  gold, frankincense and myrrh?

Gold has long been a symbol of what we value.  In the earliest days of Israel, the Ark of the Covenant contained the presence of God, the throne of the Most High.  Moses covered the Ark of the Covenant with gold.  But when Moses left the people for a while and stayed away for many days talking with God on Mount Sinai, the people became insecure.  They fashioned a Golden Calf and worshipped the false idol. 

Every culture expresses its highest ethic with some form of the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  And we regard those wealthy people who underwrite those values as honorable benefactors.

But there is a tension between the Golden Rule and the Golden Calf.  Sometimes it seems like an eternal tension.

Frankincense and myrrh were both forms of tree resin, prized for their fragrance, used as an offering in worship.  They were also used for medicinal purposes – for the treatment of wounds and intestinal disorders.  Myrrh was deemed to be particularly helpful for arthritis.  And myrrh was used in ancient times for embalming dead bodies. 

Gold, frankincense and myrrh were regarded as appropriate gifts for royalty. 

Christian commentators have also seen them as appropriate gifts for the peasant child of Bethlehem.  I particularly like St. Bernard’s interpretation:  “For they offered to Mary, the mother of the child, gold to relieve her poverty, incense against the stench of the stable and evil air, myrrh for to comfort the tender members of the child and to put away vermin.” [i]

Episcopal monk Martin Smith comments:  I always feel earthed by these touching words [of St. Bernard].  The Son of God appears as a poor child at risk in just those ways that millions of children are today.  The Magi's gifts are not exotic luxuries, but practical relief aid.  Mary and Joseph need financial help.  A cramped peasant's house, with animals crowded on the other side of the manger that divides the single room, stinks of their excrement.  The baby has a rash because the manger is crawling with fleas. The wise men are wise enough to offer money, fumigation, and medication.

Fr. Smith continues:  Epiphany is a manifestation of Christ present in all those children today who cry out for sustained and practical support, social reform that gives every family economic sufficiency, adequate sanitary housing, and basic health services.[ii]

Gold to relieve poverty; medicinal, antiseptic frankincense and myrrh to heal and cleanse, to bring a fresh, new fragrance of hope.  These wise men bring practical gifts that relieve the needs of this holy family.  But it all could have turned out so differently.

These wise men operated from a place of privilege.  They had the leisure to study the skies and to travel to pursue the star of a new king.  They had standing enough to receive a royal audience with King Herod the Great when they arrived in Judea.  According to Matthew, Herod heard their story of a newborn king with some concern.  Herod was not one to broach rivals.  During Herod’s reign he executed a wife, a brother-in-law, a mother-in-law, and three sons.  Caesar Augustus reportedly quipped about the Jewish king who supposedly followed a kosher diet, “It’s better to be Herod’s swine than Herod’s son.” 

Herod manipulated those aristocratic visitors to become his spies.  "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."  Presumably they agreed to do so.

What was it about this child and his family that haunted their dreams so convincingly that they betrayed Herod’s request and returned home by another road?  They would have known that they risked Herod’s wrath by doing so.  But they saw there a poor, vulnerable child, born to humble peasants.  And they changed their loyalties.  They flipped their perspective. 

In seeing Jesus, they saw reality in a new way – from the bottom up rather than from the top down.  Then they acted in the interest of the poor and vulnerable ones rather than the wealthy and powerful.  And their gifts appropriate for a king, seemed equally appropriate for a peasant:  “gold to relieve… poverty, incense against the stench of the stable and evil air, myrrh for to comfort the tender members of the child and to put away vermin.”

It is characteristic of the wise that they are very good observers of reality, and that they are willing to adjust their perspective based on what they observe and learn. 

Like the magi, I grew up in a rather privileged world.  I was born in this wealthy, powerful country, to a secure family that gave me security, education and opportunity.  That’s the lens through which I saw reality.  For the most part, a top-down perspective.

But every once in a while, I get to see things from a different perspective.  The other day I helped someone reclaim their car which had been repossessed.  I’m not accustomed to being treated rudely and with condescension as I was on the phone with the woman who administers the towing company business.  I’ve never been told “we don’t take cash, credit card, or check.  You’ll have to pay with a money order.”  When I went to the bank, I didn’t know banks no longer issue money orders, you have to go to a grocery store or fast-foot market.  I’m shielded by my privilege from the complications, indignities and extra expenses that the poor face because they are poor.

I am late to the game of embracing a bottom-up perspective rather than the top-down orientation that I inherited.  But I’m learning. 

In Evelyn Waugh’s novel Helena, the author puts a prayer in the mouth of the famous mother of the great Emperor Constantine.  Helena prays to the wise men, calling them her “especial patrons.”  “You were late in coming,” she says.  “How laboriously you came, taking sights and calculations, where the shepherds had run barefoot!  …You came at length to the final stage of your pilgrimage…  What did you do?  You stopped to call on King Herod.  Deadly exchange of compliments in which there began that unended war of mobs and magistrates against the innocent!...

“You are my especial patrons, and patrons of all late-comers, of all who have had a tedious journey to make to the truth, of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation, of all who through politeness make themselves partners in guilt, of all who stand in danger by reason of their talents.

“Dear cousins, pray for me,” says Helena, “and for my poor overloaded Helen

son…  Pray for the great, lest they perish utterly…  For His sake who did not reject your curious gifts, pray always for the learned, the oblique, the delicate.  Let them not be quite forgotten at the Throne of God when the simple come into their kingdom.”

For those of us who might be wise, we are in need of a pilgrimage.  A pilgrimage out of our customary environs of privilege.  A pilgrimage that gives us a way of seeing from the bottom up, from the stable to the heavens.  We need wise people who will resist the temptations of Herod, the temptations of power.  We need wise people who will bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh – “money, fumigation and medication.” 

Will our gold, frankincense and myrrh merely be more unnecessary luxuries for the honored and empowered, or will they be the wise gifts that bring new life, health and security for people like Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  Dear wise men, pray for us, and for all who have had  tedious journey to make to the truth.

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[i] As cited in Martin L. Smith, “Wiser Than We Think,” Sojourners Magazine (January, 2013), p. 48.  I found this quote in Dean Scotty McLennan’s sermon Gold and Frankincense, preached January 6, 2013 at Stanford Memorial Church:  http://stanford.io/1cQ8W1Q

[ii] Smith, Ibid. http://sojo.net/magazine/2013/01/let-jesus-be-cursed