Peeps, hopefully all
your Christmas shopping is done! As we brace ourselves for Storm Barbara in the UK, it is lovely to be indoors with an abundance of
Christmas cheer (anyone who’s grumpy, please leave!). Now to wrap a mound of
presents and turn up the Christmas music! Will everyone like their gifts? ‘Well,
it’s the thought that counts,’ we say to ourselves…..
The year is sometime
between 4 and 2 B.C. (thanks to the miscalculations of Dionysius Exiguus) and
the Magi are arranging a trip from the East to Bethlehem to see the Promised
Messiah, who has been born to Mary and Joseph. They are coming to worship the
One revealed to them as the ‘King of the Jews’ and it follows they should bring
gifts fit for a King.
In the ancient world, gold, frankincense and myrrh were
often given as gifts to honour a deity. The Magi had not only understood that
the Christ-Child was ‘King of the Jews’, but that He was to be worshipped as
God! How appropriate were the first Christmas gifts! Not only were they useful
in their literal value to the poor Bethlehem family, but they were also
significant in their spiritual symbolism, referring to Christ Himself. The gold
represented His deity, the frankincense His priestly role (or His righteousness) and the myrrh
prefigured His death and embalming.
In this
season of exchanging gifts, let us never forget that the Christ of Christmas
was the greatest Gift to this world. Do we recognize Him as King, as God in the
flesh come down from Heaven to redeem mankind? In a world crying out
for peace, He is the Prince of Peace, the One whose birth was announced as
bringing 'peace on earth and good will toward men'. He would reconcile man to
God through His sacrifice on the cross. What would we have brought Him had we
been delivering the first Christmas gifts? What can we bring Him today? The
carol 'In the Bleak Midwinter' poses the same question:
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
Have a
wonderful Christmas and let's be thankful for THE GREATEST GIFT ever
given!
xxx
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