4 minute read
With the Wisemen Let Us Go And Do Likewise
by Timothy Teuscher
“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 and frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). The season of Epiphany, which recently ended, began in this way: with the visit of the magi or wisemen to the infant Jesus. In this familiar account we are given a fitting picture concerning the stewardship of our earthly treasures—whether it be gold, frankincense, and myrrh, or loonies and toonies.
Now, we don’t know much about these strange men who, following a brief stop in Jerusalem, suddenly appeared at the door of a house in Bethlehem after Jesus is born—and then just as suddenly disappear from the pages of the Scriptures. We are, however, left with one very clear image. Namely, these wisemen from the east, whoever they were, brought gifts as an expression of their worship of the Christ Child. That, after all, is the reason they made that long journey to Bethlehem. Remember what they said to Herod? “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2). With extravagant generosity, they give us a clear example of a central aspect of our life of worship before the Lord. To a king to whom they had no claim on, being Gentiles and not Jews… to a king who didn’t look much like a king, lying in the lap of a poor, young Jewish mother in a rented room in a little village in some backwater province of the Roman Empire… to this king they bring the best of what they have. Wealth, worship, witness, and a foreshadowing of woe is what they give.
Gold is the wealth… a gift fit for a king! Frankincense is the worship… the prayers of God’s people symbolized by the smoke of burning incense rising upward to heaven (Revelation 8:4). So we sing from Psalm 141 in the office of Vespers: “Let my prayer rise before You as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (LSB 231). And the myrrh? That was an expensive oily resin used for burial—foreshadowing what this newborn king would do for them and for us—that is, give His life as a ransom price for the sins of the world by being enthroned upon a cross. A cross that would bear this inscription: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19). His lifeless body would then be “bound in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews” (John 19:40).
None of the wisemen’s gifts were cheap leftovers. They cost them dearly. But they didn’t see it as a hardship or an inconvenient expense. Nor did they inquire of Mary an accounting of how she intended to use their gifts prior to giving them. Rather, their gifts were an expression of their worship of the promised king of the Jews who is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:18).
And do you know what? He is your king too! As such, consider the monetary gifts you bring to the King of kings as an expression of your worship. They aren’t even yours to begin with, but, rather, as the prophet Haggai writes: “The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, declares the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:8). Moreover, following the example of the wisemen, our generous offerings are given first and foremost, not because our congregation or synod needs them to pay the bills, but rather from hearts that are filled with joy over what has been revealed to us in the Babe of Bethlehem who came to suffer and die as the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of all people—whether they be Jewish shepherds, Gentile wisemen, or even 21st century Canadians.
The Epiphany hymn sums it up this way: “As they offered gifts most rare At Thy cradle, rude and bare, So may we with holy joy, Pure and free from sin’s alloy, All our costliest treasures bring, Christ, to Thee, our heav’nly King” (LSB 397:3). And with the wisemen of old, let us go and do likewise.
