The Strangest Christmas Gift Ever

What’s the strangest or most unusual Christmas gift you ever received? Most presents we get are welcomed, sometimes surprises we hadn’t even thought to request. But once in a while we open a gift that’s either inappropriate, embarrassing, or something we’d never buy for ourselves.

 

I can’t remember receiving a lot of these over the years, but did have an aunt who seemed to think, “I know he’ll never expect this!” And she was right. One year when I was a teenager, she sent three pairs of thin, stretchy socks – white, yellow and red. At that stage in my life, I wore socks of one color only – black. So, the Christmas socks she sent were as useful as a screen door in a submarine.

 

Michelangelo's "Pieta" on display
at St. Peter's Basilica in The Vatican.

Reading the Christmas story in the Bible, we find Mary and Joseph welcoming a very unexpected cadre of guests – wise men, or Magi, from the East. (That didn’t mean Boston or New York City or Pittsburgh.) They were mystics likely from either the Persian or Babylonian empires who had pondered the ancient prophecies of a coming Messiah. Their calculations had told them when and where this promised king would be born, so they set out to find him and worship him.

Tradition says there were three of them. But there might have been more, along with a sizable entourage to accompany them on their long, arduous journey. Whether it was “We Three Kings,” as the familiar carol claims, or not is inconsequential. What does matter is the gifts – three in all – they brought for the youngster who fulfilled the revered prophecies. Matthew 2:11 informs us, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

 

The first two gifts made sense: Gold, signified royalty, which the new king was without a doubt. And frankincense, since the Messiah would be serving in a high priestly role. Frankincense was an aromatic resin used in incense and perfume, along with having medicinal uses. During ritual sacrifices, fragrant incense was often part of the ceremony.

 

So, both the gold and frankincense would surely have been welcomed by the young parents of Jesus. The third gift, however, must have caught them off-guard to say the least.

 

Imagine you’re expecting a baby and someone hosts a shower for you. Friends come with a variety of gifts – blankets, clothes, disposable diapers, infant toys, a mobile, sippy cups, stuffed animals. Everyone’s smiling at the cute gifts. Then you open a gift that turns those smiles upside-down. Inside the shiny, colorfully wrapped package is…embalming fluid. How would you react? Confused? Angry? Horrified?

 

This is exactly what myrrh was – a product used in the embalming process. Specifically, it was a gummy resin from a small, thorny tree in the Middle East. Since myrrh had a strong smell, it was used in perfume. But most commonly, some societies also used it as an embalming substance.

 

What kind of present is that for a young child, two years old or younger? To our way of thinking, such a gift would be strange, a real head-scratcher. We’re celebrating a new life, not a death. But remember, the Magi were acting according to prophecies of old, some of which spoke of a suffering Messiah. To them, myrrh would be very fitting.

 

We don’t know how well the wise men grasped the significance of the myrrh. But 2,000 years later, the reason is clear. Because Jesus Christ came not only to teach and provide an example of how to live a righteous life but also to die – serving as the once-and-for-all-time payment to cover the penalty of our sins. 

 

Hebrews 9:12 tells us Christ’s death on the cross ended the need for animal sacrifices the Israelites had practiced for many centuries to atone for people’s sins: “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”

 

One day we all will die. But unlike the rest of us, Jesus’ primary mission as God in the flesh was to die. To be our Savior. He paid a price we could not pay to satisfy the debt He did not owe – our debt – making it possible for us to gain a right relationship with the Lord and offer us life eternal.

 

This time of year, Nativity sets and Christmas stories present peaceful, sentimental images of the baby Jesus with His earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, surrounded by docile farm animals, curious shepherds, glowing angels, and the Magi. Happy, heart-warming scenes. However, from the moment of His birth, a grim shadow was cast, that of a wooden cross upon which the Lord Jesus one day would be crucified.

 

That day the gold and frankincense were of no value. What was needed was myrrh, for anointing His broken, bleeding body. We’re told after Jesus’ death was confirmed, Pontius Pilate allowed Joseph of Arimathea to take the body for burial. Accompanying him was Nicodemus, a high-ranking Pharisee and secret Christ follower who “brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs” (John 19:39-40).

 

At that moment, Jesus’ death might have seemed like the greatest tragedy in the history of the world. But we know the Good News: Three days later He was resurrected, conquering death and the power of sin. In The New Living Translation, Romans 6:10 declares, “When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God.” Because of that, we too can live for God’s glory. 

 

It’s good to reflect on the three gifts of the Magi: gold for the King eternal; frankincense for our great High Priest; and the strangest Christmas gift of all, myrrh for the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for our sins, rose from the dead, and now offers life everlasting for all who place their faith in Him. 

Christmas and Its Conflict with Contentment

“What do you want for Christmas?” This is a question we’ve either asked of someone, or someone has asked of us. Perhaps both. Because Christmas is all about getting stuff we want, right? At least that’s the message we receive from advertisers and retail locations big and small, both real and virtual. 

 

We’re also told it doesn’t matter whether we can afford it or not. Just pull out a credit card. The old “buy now, pay later” strategy. Preacher Alistair Begg calls this the way to “fulfill your wanting without waiting.”

 

Of course, if you often read this blog, you might agree with my contention that Christmas isn’t about the advancement of materialism. Yes, gift giving is a time-honored part of the Christmas tradition, perhaps more in the U.S.A. than anywhere else. But when we start hearing characters in holiday movies, talk show commentators and TV commercials asking the over-used question, “What is the true meaning of Christmas?” my gut response is, “Duh!” 

 

Leave the Christ Child out of the equation and all we’ve got left is “mas.” Ironically, in Spanish the word “mas” means “more,” so perhaps that’s part of the reason that for many, Christmas turns into a quest for acquiring more and more stuff.

 

For followers of Jesus, however, the understanding of the meaning and purpose of Christmas is more straight-forward. It’s an annual celebration of a unique birth more than 2,000 years ago, when “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). If Jesus, whom believers came to recognize as “the Christ” or the promised Messiah, hadn’t been born, there would have been no need for a Christmas observance.

 

Let’s shift to the consideration of the gift-giving side of Christmas. After all, even Christ’s birth was marked with the presentation of gifts. Magi, wise men from the East who were led to seek out the fulfillment of prophecies dating back to the Old Testament days of Daniel, brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh as symbols of their reverence. 

 

We could rightly conclude that the exchange of gifts doesn’t violate any biblical principles or commandments. In fact, the Scriptures strongly endorse giving and cultivating a giving attitude. We often think of Jesus’ statement, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), but we find admonitions for lavish, even hilarious giving throughout the Bible. 

 

I particularly like the encouragement from Proverbs 11:24-25, "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

 

The problem comes when we confuse strivings for more and more with the ability to feel content with whatever we already have. The apostle Paul addressed this in cautioning his disciple, Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

 

Elsewhere the apostle, while addressing the willingness of believers in Philippi to support his ministry, wrote, “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:11-12).

 

This is the challenge we face during this special season of the year, seeking to keep separate our wants from our needs, and to cultivate contentment in what could be termed, to borrow the words of John Steinbeck, “the winter of our discontent.”