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. Matthew 2:11
Now, remembering that most of our Magi discussion is purely imaginary, just wonderings - our last king is named Balthasar, from Arabia. The distance to Bethlehem was a little more than 750 miles - so Balthasar had the shortest distance, and the shortest time to travel!
And again, whether or not the kings came from three different places, or all from Yemen, as discussed yesterday, the important thing is that they came. They acted. They moved.
And they didn't just come as curious onlookers. They came as worshipers. And they brought gifts!
The gifts themselves are interesting. They have both practical and symbolic value. All three gifts are both ordinary offerings, and gifts given to a king. Myrrh being commonly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable. The three gifts had a spiritual meaning as well: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense, like that used in the temple) as a symbol of priestship, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death.
One could make the argument that these astrologers were predicting Christ's future: that He would be our King. That He would be our Priest. And that He would be our Sacrifice.
The three kings are important to the Christmas story, because they give us three gifts, as well. They showed us the importance of coming from wherever you are. They showed us the importance of humbling ourselves in worship before Him. And they showed us that when we come, when we humble ourselves, we are giving God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit the only gift we have to offer: ourselves.
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