Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-10, Matthew 2:7-12.
From the east: from the land of the rising sun, a new day dawns. This day rose with healing in its wings, when a great sign appeared—one that fulfilled all prophecy and promise given to the sons and daughters of those who wrestle with God, Israel.
The first light that was in the beginning with God, upon whom all life first depended—a spiritual light that sustained the plants before the creation of the sun—this light came into the world.
God with us, and with us He was a permanent light, so on this day there was no longer a distinction between day and night; when evening came there was light—neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. (Zechariah 14:6).
Yet this sign, Jesus, given to the world, was not recognised by His own people, but by those who looked for Him and found Him—a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths. Three wise men, or magi, who followed the star to Bethlehem. The star that came out from the house of Jacob (Numbers 24:17) announced to those who stayed awake in the watches of the night—the shepherds of Israel. To them, and to the Gentiles, the beginning of salvation history and the glory of the Lord was revealed in a tiny baby.
The woman, a mother, clothed with the sun of righteousness, who raised Jesus from a babe into adulthood, taught, supported, and advocated for His mission to the world—the Queen of Apostles, Mary.
For us now, we have come into the inheritance of a kingdom that is not of this world: a kingdom filled with the fruits of the Spirit, cultivated in our hearts.
From the east, three men came to the place God chose as a dwelling for His Name. Like the three visitors from heaven who came to announce new life—a coming back of life in the womb of Sarah—three men who, seeing the signs of the times, answered the call by taking a journey. They came with gifts of announcement, proclaiming the identity of this child as for the salvation of the world, not its destruction. God always reveals beforehand what He is about to do; what is to come is foretold.
The gifts placed before the Lord, lying in a manger, were of gold, frankincense, and myrrh—gifts symbolising the threefold office of priest, prophet, and king.
Incense symbolises the fragrant soul, the spirit of God, the imago Dei that is common to humanity, for God breathed His sweetness into the nostrils of Adam and he became a living being. (Genesis 2:7).
The incense symbolises the anima, or the life of the soul; day and night this burned upon the ancient altar (Exodus 30:7-8). Likewise, upon the altar of our hearts, love and life flow through our every thought, word, and deed, for out of the heart flow the springs of life—just as the divine breath first entered into us, so do we emanate this first love and life into the world. (Proverbs 4:23).
The prayers of incense and life rise up to heaven, like our praise. Yet this is not for one moment; the whole of our life is a prayer to God, all that we do is an offering to God—when we sweep the floor, wash the dishes, speak up for the voiceless, hold another’s hand, care for the sick, whenever we reach out beyond ourselves with tenderness.
The frankincense represents the prophet who does not live for himself or herself but for God, always pointing toward God. Exodus (30:37-38) says, “Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the LORD. Whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from the people.” Just as we see in the opening of the book of Jeremiah, he was set apart for a purpose, appointed as a prophet to the nations. Just as Jesus was dedicated for a purpose in the womb, before He was born.
[Contrast this with the prophet Ezekiel’s symbolic act, when God commanded him to bake his bread using human excrement for fuel (Ezekiel 4:12)—as a sign of the defilement and death that was coming for a disobedient people in siege and exile].
The myrrh signifies the sacred anointing oil of the high priest, used to anoint the tent of meeting and everything in it. Jesus is the new temple, God among His people; all things have come together in Him, and whatever or whomever touches them will be holy.
As Jesus lived on the day “HOLY TO THE LORD”, (Zechariah 14:20) even the cooking pots illuminated by His divine light became like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. When Jesus passed by, every pot was made holy, as do all who come to a life lived for Him. Embracing sacrifice and eating from the same pot, or drinking from the same cup, all are made holy—just as Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me,” and to James and John, “Indeed you will drink from the same cup.” (Matthew 16:24, 20:23).
“In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
As sheep following the good shepherd, we become holy as He is holy when we live as He did—as servants giving our lives for others.
Those called prophets today are too often politically motivated, or seeking wealth or fame. In our age of information, the bad actors on the stage of the world lift up the voices that suit a profitable narrative rather than showing us Christ. Jesus tells us, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Finally, and more obvious to us, is the kingship of Christ represented by the gold.
“They came to greet him with rich blessings and placed a crown of gold upon his head,” says the Psalm of David (21:3).
The crowning with glory, symbolic of His authority, victory over death in the world, and for us who likewise are victorious over the ways of the world, we receive a crown as a sign of reward for choosing life over a culture of death—we take the narrow path, the way that leads to heaven, rather than to hell. (Revelation 4:4).
We have in this nativity scene the obedience shown by the descendants of Abraham, and those with great joy who came out from the world to find Him.
The three wise men do not return with news of what they have seen to King Herod, an earthly and wicked king, but instead carry this encounter home with them, off back into a distant land. They listen again to the sign given to them; old men dreaming dreams (Joel 2:28) obey and take on humility, leaving rather than seeking favour, prestige or power. For this gift of God, this tiny baby is what another wants, but they resist the temptation.
In this world we have so much trouble; in these days of wars and rumours of wars, it is the proud, the strong, and the mighty in this world who are seeking glory, and taking the name of the Lord in vain. For the Christ could not have been this kind of leader or ruler. Wars are not freely chosen by a people, but are thrust upon them. The horrors of war go beyond mere winners and losers; they bring death and destruction, conquest, and oppression.
God is love; and love protects the freedom of the other. For why else were we given a choice in the Garden of Eden to turn toward or away from God? Like the plants, we were loved first by God, and life depended upon Him, but we looked away and wanted something else—the forbidden fruit, like the glitter and glamour in the world today—what is it that draws us away from the blessing of the beautiful and the small? In His littleness we find humility; in His hiddenness the family is made holy, and a community is blessed.
“Man is called ‘a little world’, because all creatures of the world are in a way to be found in him.” — St Thomas Aquinas (S.T. I, q. 91, a. 1, ad) And, in this little world this continuity was shown when we were covered with the skins of animals. Humanity under the law was asked to keep the holy and the profane apart, linen could not touch wool. But now, in Christ, we belong to a different place, we walk one foot in the world and one in another—a place of pure joy and love, that does not require the knowledge like an entrance into a college, but the letting go mere appearances, to dive deeper into our hearts.
Matthew’s Gospel is written for the Jewish community who believed in Jesus but became outsiders. We may become outsiders, Flannery O’Connor famously said “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”
Today, the echoes of Jesus’ fulfilment of all prophecy and promise given to Israel draw us to drink deeply from the scriptures with reverence and holy fear—that is, the wonder of God made man.
His fruit is better than gold, even fine gold. (Proverbs 8:19).
So, we now are the sign of Christ in the world; like the fig tree that bears fruit in due season, do we now as believers, recognising the sign of the times, become that sign to others?
For like the leaves that follow the sun, or shepherds that guard their flocks, we now belong to the threefold office of priest, prophet, and king.
People come to know the love of God through us, for we now are the temples of the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 6:19) interpreters of the Word made flesh, going out into every place that we are.
Amen.