On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ( Mt.2:11)
Pix 1 : Christmas at the Curve (left) Christmas at Ikano (pix 2, 3)
In the gospel of Matthew, we have record of the first Christmas when three wise men (Magi) from the East followed the star to the place where the baby Jesus was born and there they knelt down and worshipped him with gold, incense and myrrh.
How does this account speak to us today? Gold is as precious today as it was in the days of Herod. Our money is our gold. Do we tithe as part of our worship to God? There are wonderful testimonies of people who tithed faithfully and experienced God's blessings and faithfulness. It's not easy and I'm still learning.
Is our worship as incense rising up to heaven? Apart from our relationship with God, on a horizontal level, are we a fragrance within our sphere of relationships?
Myrrh speaks of death and hope. Jesus' body was embalmed with myrrh. Why? Because he would rise again on the third day. Do we die to our selves, our ambitions?
Christmas in the real sense is so different from the commercialized one with Christmas sales, Christmas trees, dazzling lights and music and booze.
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