Gifts for He Who Was Gifted to Us

After their audience with the king, they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.

They traveled a long way following a star.  The Magians were a priestly caste that came from Persia. They were known for studying the stars and trying to predict based on their movement what would be happening in their world. While they were not particularly good at predicting things, they were good at studying the sky. When they had seen the new star arise they interpreted it that it meant that there was to be a new king of the Jews.  If a new king was born, they would go to him and bring gifts.  It would have been interesting being with them during this journey, sitting around the campfire at night and listening to their conversation.  They were very well-educated men, as close to scientists as you could get in that era. After many days of travel, they arrived in Jerusalem, the capital of the Israelite people, under the "protection" of Rome, of course.  They were seeking a new-born king. Now, where does one go to find a new-born king?  Why one would go to the place where a king would call home, a palace.  And so, they arrived at Herod's palace and as diplomats from a land far away, they were granted an audience with the king.  

What can we say about King Herod?  Well, he was born a Jew and yet he was very supportive of the Romans who granted him the title of king.  He was not known for his poetry and songwriting ability, but rather, he was known to be a despot and provided his own job security by cow-towing to the Romans and slaughtering anyone whom he thought might be after his job, this included family.  It was a common saying among the Romans that it was safer to be Herod's pig than to be Herod's son. When he greeted his visitors and they asked him where the newborn king of the Jews was, I would imagine that Herod started boiling inside.  He asked his guests to let him know where the newborn king was so he could worship as well. Worship? 

The three (number of wise men assumed from tradition, the Gospels are silent on how many) men made their way to Bethlehem, whose name means "House of Bread" and found the child and the parents in a stable and laid in a manger, the trough used for feeding the animals.  They must have been mystified since they had just come from the magnificent palace of Herod who seemed to know so little about this newborn king.  Inside their hearts, they knew that they were looking at a special baby.  Remember, while our pictures and tableaus of the birth of Jesus have people bumping halos as they walked about, in fact, the child and family were quite ordinary.  We know this too because if there had been something special about Mary and Joseph, a room would have been found for them in one of the inns.  So, the wise men gazed upon the child and as He was a king they followed oriental custom and presented Him gifts. 

They presented Him with gold, for gold is the gift that a king would appreciate the most.  With gold, you could outfit an army, or furnish your palace. Gold is what a king had a lot of. The gold symbolizes the kingship of Christ. 

Next, they presented Him frankincense, a fragrant substance collected from the bark of trees.  This symbolized the priesthood of Jesus. The prayers of Jesus would rise like incense up to the Father. 

Finally, they presented Him with myrhh.  Myrhh is not a traditional gift given to babies.  It is kind of an oily liquid frankincense, very fragrant, very costly, and it was used in the preparation of a corpse for burial. Just the perfect thing to give a newborn baby!  Today, the closest thing we have to compare with myrhh is embalming fluid.  So this gift was very unusual, to say the least.  It symbolized the saving death that Jesus was to undergo for us.

After presenting the gifts, they probably spoke with the proud parents for a brief time and then made their way back to their camp where they discussed the day's events.  In the morning they would go to Herod and tell him exactly where to find the newborn King of the Jews so that he could worship too.  They turned in for the night and each of them was told in a dream to not visit Herod again, so they left using another route that would allow them to bypass Jerusalem.  This breach of protocol failed to please Herod, and after the Holy Family was warned in a dream to leave, and actually left for Egypt, Herod committed infanticide in that little town of Bethlehem to hopefully protect his reign. And so, it begins.

Give the gift of prayer to a deceased loved one who may be in Purgatory today.  They are depending on those still alive to help them.  Please do not abandon them.