Echoes of CHRISTmas: The wise men

Matthew 2:11

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

I'm not going to go into detail about who the wise men were because no one really knows who they were. But I will say that the bible does not specify their number there could've been many more than three, or any number of them. Also that the bible says that the wise men saw the young child not the baby Jesus, so it was most likely that the wise men visited a bit after Jesus's birth. Keep those things in mind when you're reading this. 

The gold, frankincense, and myrrh always fascinated me I always wondered what they were, and why Jesus was given these specific gifts. Well gold was a sign of kingship, a sign of royalty and symbolized that Christ was the king of kings. Frankincense was used in the temple as an incense and symbolized Jesus's priesthood. The myrrh was what fascinated me the most upon studying it. It was used as an embalming spice, a spice used to make dead bodies not smell. This symbolized Christ's death, his death for all because he loves us so much. The gold tells us that our King has come. The frankincense tells us that this King will be the last priest and that he will cleanse us completely. The myrrh tells us he is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, it shows how much he loves us. You have to wonder if baby Jesus knew all this. I like to think he did, that he just smiled at these wise men and looked at them with knowing eyes thinking "if only you knew how much I love you." 

I also love the faith of the wise men. They followed a star for who knows how long to the home of two lower class Jewish people to worship a little boy that they had never met before. How much faith does that take? Do you have that kind of faith? Would you do the same thing as these wise men? 

But my favorite part of the wise men story is when they fall down and worship him. These wise men who have journeyed so far just to worship this little child. And it says they fell down, in humility these wise men fell down and worshipped a child. How much more should we worship him in this season and not only in this season but all year. We need to have a constant attitude of worship. Do you love Jesus enough to worship him not only now in the season where we celebrate his birth but in every season and every day of your life. These wise men met Jesus probably once in their lives and I can guarantee you they were not the same afterwards. They had one encounter with Jesus and it probably changed them forever, we have an everlasting relationship with him. But do we squander that relationship? Do we spend so much time complaining, and arguing that we forget the true reason any of us are here? Jesus Christ. He is the one reason that we are here to serve him to worship him. Don't get wrapped into the hustle and bustle of the fancy colors and the ringing bells, but this year come journeys from afar as the wise men did and worship at the feet of our savior. Come before him with humility realizing that everything he did was not because of anything we did but because of everything we did. 

Here the echoes of the wise men calling you to worship at the feet of Jesus, and to present your  gifts  to him this season. 

Matthew 2:2

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.