They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)
The Jesus Baby Shower had a royal flair! We are told that the gifts the scholars brought were no ordinary gifts. Apart from the commonly known and highly valued gold, the frankincense and myrrh had huge cost and were used in royal courts to honor the king.
The point is that the gifts were reflective of the royal nature of the baby before them. They presented kingly gifts because they indeed honored him as a king. Obviously, there was no doubt in their minds about the position and place of the One they had been seeking. They had not only trudged those hundreds (or thousands?) of miles to see him but they also presented exquisite gifts to someone that they believed was a new king, the King of the Jews.
Sermons and teachings abound on the nature of the gifts, such as the gold was for this, and the myrrh for that; and the preachers ask the inevitable question, “What gift will you bring to Jesus?” (There’s nothing wrong with that question, and is a good stimulus for heart and soul; my point is that it’s surely been used countless times.) Even in lighter moments, cartoons have been drawn, such as those depicting Mary wryly saying to Joseph, “Look, Joseph, what we always wanted for our newborn baby: frankincense.”
But it seems that somewhere in this mix of what we make of the gifts and how we respond to him now, it’s easy to overlook what must be (at least for me) the main idea: these far-eastern strangers, who followed a directional and confirmational star across the Middle East, brought these gifts from their homelands because they indeed witnessed to the fact that within the recent past, a new king had been born. They talked as though they were 100% sure of it. (When we think of the magnitude of their journey, their talk definitely matched their walk.) And they couldn’t stay away from honoring him. They were pilgrims compelled to see him and honor him with gifts worthy of his status.
The indicators continued to pile up that this baby was special. Just how special would soon be widely known.
“Father, thank you for the special gifts lavished upon the baby king! What gifts would you have us continue to offer to him to honor him?”
Freddy Boswell 