The Gift of Myrrh
The Three Gifts, prt. 3
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
December 13, 2008
Matthew 2:11 (NRSV)
11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Last week we talked about how frankincense is a gift for a priest, and we looked at the fact that Jesus is a priest, and that we in the church are all called to be priests (i.e., to live in a way that shows who God is). And I told you that tonight we’d cover the gift of myrrh, and how myrrh was a gift for one who was to die.
Now by the time the wise men found Jesus and presented their gifts to him, Jesus was probably about two years old. Interesting, isn’t it, that at that young age, Jesus was given a gift fitting for one who was to die. Imagine having a baby and someone showing up to see your baby for the first time and saying, “I brought a gift,” and they yell, “Wheel it in!” and it’s a casket. And they say, “I figure one day this little feller’s gonna need this. I hope you like it.”
Jesus lived his whole life in the shadow of the cross. When he was born, Joseph and Mary took him to the temple to dedicate him to God, as was the custom. There they run into the prophet Simeon, a very old man, who says some pretty amazing things about Jesus.
Luke 2:33-35 (NIV)
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
This actually happened well before Jesus received myrrh from the Magi. He was only eight days old and there’s the prophet Simeon saying to Mary, “A sword will pierce your soul” predicting the death of Christ and the suffering of his mother.
Jesus lived under the shadow of the cross, and was born under that shadow. I want to read for you now a passage written by the prophet Isaiah, who lived 700 years before Jesus was born. This is a long passage, but it’s what we’re dealing with today and the more of God’s words I read to you the less room there is for my own words – and that ends up being an extraordinarily good deal for you. Isaiah wrote:
Is 53:2-12 (The Message)
2The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. 3He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. 4But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. 5But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. 6We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. 7He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. 8Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. 9They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true. 10Still, it’s what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And GOD’s plan will deeply prosper through him. 11Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. 12Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors— Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
Talk about the shadow of the cross. This was from Isaiah chapter 53. When Jesus stood up to preach his first sermon, he read from Isaiah chapter 61. I wonder if sometimes Jesus read through Isaiah chapter 53 and read those same words I just read to you, and exactly when he understood that those words were about him, and how he felt when he read that. You’d almost have to be the Son of God to read that kind of prediction about your future and not turn into a neurotic, anxiety-ridden prophet wanna-be. That Jesus lived his life in this shadow and successfully called and equipped a small band of people to spread his message around the world and was so effective in doing his work is perhaps the greatest testament of the kind of trust he placed in God the Father moment to moment – the kind of surrender to the Father’s will that he lived in day in and day out.
Fast forward seven hundred years and we read this:
Jn 19:38-42 (NIV)
38Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Now I realize we are supposed to be dealing with things related to Jesus’ birth during this season, but I usually like to avoid the obvious. The fact is that the death of Christ seems to be woven right into the fabric of the account of his birth. One day all of us will die and when we do, and people tell the story of our lives, they will say, “So and so was born on this date, did these things, and died on that date.” They will probably not be talking about how from the day you were born, the moment and manner of your death was on everybody’s mind. Jesus is unique in many ways, and certainly that is one of them.
Now back to Isaiah. That’s where I really want to draw us down this evening.
Is 53:4-6 (NIV)
4Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
I have rewritten part of this so that it is a little more personal. Would you read this with me?
Is 53:4-6 (NIV)
4Surely he took up my infirmities and carried my sorrows…5 he was pierced for my transgressions, he was crushed for my iniquities; the punishment that brought me peace was upon him, and by his wounds I am healed. 6Like a sheep, I have gone astray, I have turned to my own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity that was mine.
That’s what it’s all about. I mean, let’s face it. It’s great that Jesus was born and everything. It’s awesome that God took on human flesh and came to this world to live with us. But you and I wouldn’t be here today if Jesus had simply been born. And we wouldn’t be here today if Jesus had simply died. We are here today because God came to earth in human form and lived among us and did miracles and showed us how to live in the flow of God’s rich mercy, and then died a sacrificial death for you and for me to pay the price for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to.
I preached last week that sin is a horrible offense to God. Sometimes we use different names for it like mistakes or flaws or brokenness. Sometimes we can even get other people to think well of us if we’re willing to share our sins openly and honestly enough and help people feel like they’re not the only ones who are struggling. But underneath sin is a piece of our lives that is rotting and sick and desperately in need of a good and permanent burial.
Sin is actually something that stands in opposition to life. The closest I’ve ever been able to get to explaining this is by using cancer. Cancer, almost by its very nature, stands opposed to life. Cancer is what? It’s abnormal growth of cells. Cancer is what results when normal human cells take off on their own – like sheep, they go astray – they start doing their own thing. They don’t serve the purpose of the body anymore. They don’t fulfill the normal duties of cells, but they get power hungry. They start living to serve themselves. They begin growing out of control and start draining the body of its blood supply and energy and oxygen. Cancer is what results when something that was healthy and good and part of a healthy system breaks away from that system and starts doing its own thing. Cancer cells start giving birth to other cancer cells. And pretty soon the person with cancer, who once was active and healthy, is ill. This thing that started deep in the brain, or the lung, or the liver, or wherever – it started slowly and gained momentum and one cell led to another. Left unchecked, cancer leads to the death of the person who has it. And when the person who has cancer dies, guess what? The cancer itself is no longer able to survive. Cancer causes the death of the host, which leads to the death of the cancer. Cancer is so destructive that eventually it even brings about its own destruction.
Sin is that way. The Bible says sin is at work in our bodies.
Ro 7:21-23 (NIV)
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with your body. Your body is fine. God created your body and your body is good! The only problem with your body is that your body, for now, is where YOU live, so if sin is going to go to work on you, if the devil is going to get a hold on you, he has to get a hold of the members of your body. He must recruit them to serve sin. Under the influence of sin, lips that were created to speak prudently and lovingly speak foolishly and with hatred. Feet that were created to walk the path of peace and righteousness often lead us to hostility and things that are wrong. Hands that were created to gently serve and help are formed into fists that shake in rebellion against God, or that strike others and wound them. Hearts that were formed to be houses for the Holy Spirit become haunts of malice and jealousy and envy. Desires that were created to guide us toward good things are perverted and lead to addictions. Minds that were created to be aware of the glory of God and dwell forever on his goodness become places where plots are hatched to hurt others, where prejudices lie, where untruths are believed and acted upon, and where fears lock us up in chains and hide from our eyes the complete and total provision of God for our every need.
Like cancer, sin is cumulative. It usually starts out small and one leads to another, and they tend to get bigger as we go. Like cancer, sin begins when we each go astray – we turn away from God and go our own way. We rebel against the system we were created to live within (for cancer that’s the human body, and for sin it’s the kingdom of God) and decide to just do our own thing. We start doing whatever we want. Sins multiply, each leading us to believe more deeply in the necessity of the next. And like cancer, sin eventually kills the host. Sin will convince you that the way to life is to do your own thing. It will use the resources of your body – your thoughts and your emotions and your desires and your hands and your feet and your eyes and your lips and your ears – and certainly your man parts and woman parts – for its own purposes, keeping you from being able to use them for God’s purposes. And it will keep using those resources until there is simply nothing left of you. Don’t get me wrong – you might not die physically at the moment you reach that point. But spiritually you are a goner. Sin will kill you, and it will kill the part of you that matters most – your spirit. That eternal part of you that the rest of your life springs from. That’s what I mean when I say sin is naturally opposed to life. Just as there is no healthy amount of cancer you can have (it’s best to get rid of all of it – or as much as you possibly can!), there is no healthy amount of sin.
So how do you get rid of cancer? You can’t reform it. You can’t rehabilitate it. You can’t get it to play nice. You can’t get it to serve the purpose of life because in its very nature it brings only death. There is only one way to treat it, and that is to kill it. And you must kill it before it kills you because that is what is at stake. People use the language all the time. They say, “I’m in a fight against cancer.” You don’t hear people say, “I’m resisting cancer,” or “I’m negotiating with cancer,” or “I’m opposed to cancer.” No way. The fact is that on the day you find out you have cancer, first you are freaked out. Then you are depressed and scared. But sometime pretty close to that day, you declare war. It’s a battle to the death against this thing that is probably going to kill you if you don’t take it seriously. And you do whatever it takes – whatever you have to do – to get it out of you. And the only way to get it out of you is to kill it.
The only way to get sin out of you is to put it to death. The problem is that sin is wrapped around your heart and mind and your perceptions of your own goodness and in order to kill it, a lot of you is going to have to go. And there’s one other huge problem with sin. There’s nothing you can do about it. See, sin isn’t like prostate cancer that you can almost always fix if you catch it early enough. Sin is like liver cancer or lung cancer. Sin is, quite simply, a death sentence. The message of scripture, the strong truth we must face, is that among those who allow sin to rule in their bodies, there will be no survivors. Sin will put every one of them to death, first spiritually and ultimately physically.
Sin, in its nature, kills.
Ro 3:23 (NKJV)
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
And there’s nothing you can do about it. God knew this and so he sent Jesus to the earth. Jesus, who lived his whole life under the shadow of the cross. And so here’s what happened.
2 Co 5:21 (NKJV)
21For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
What’s that saying? It’s saying this, read this with me:
Is 53:4-6 (NIV)
4Surely he took up my infirmities and carried my sorrows…5 he was pierced for my transgressions, he was crushed for my iniquities; the punishment that brought me peace was upon him, and by his wounds I am healed. 6…the LORD has laid on him the iniquity that was mine.
It’s saying this:
2 Co 5:21 (NKJV)
21For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
It’s saying this:
Ro 5:6 (NIV)
6…at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
When we were still powerless. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We had to BE saved. Somebody had to take on our sin, and that somebody was Jesus. God allowed Christ to take on that burden, to bear your sin, and to pay the price that sin, by its very nature, always extracts – which is death.
Ro 6:23 (NKJV)
23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And what was the result of that awful, horrible, bloody, nasty event? Well when cancer kills the host, what happens? The cancer dies too, right? The scriptural message is that Jesus took on himself the sin of the world and when the host died – that is Jesus – sin died too! It lost its power to condemn us to death.
Col 2:13-15 (The Message)
13When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, 14the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. 15He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
In Bible times, when a country would invade and defeat another country, they would often strip the citizens of the captive country naked, chain them together, and parade them naked hundreds of miles back to the invading country to spend the rest of their lives in slavery. Usually they never were allowed to return home again. What Paul is saying here is that Jesus died for our sins and when he rose again from the dead, Christ once and for all broke the power of sin to condemn us and take our lives. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. Sin, which had for so long been invading people and making them slaves and eventually killing them, no longer had the final say. Death was no longer the last word and because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, we don’t have to! Now don’t get me wrong. We can still choose to, and most people do! Most people have no interest in what Jesus made possible. But grace and freedom are available to you if you want them. So do you?
Gold for a king. Frankincense for a priest. Myrrh for one who was to die.
Is 53:4-6 (NIV)
4Surely he took up my infirmities and carried my sorrows…5 he was pierced for my transgressions, he was crushed for my iniquities; the punishment that brought me peace was upon him, and by his wounds I am healed. 6…the LORD has laid on him the iniquity that was mine.
By his wounds we are healed. Amen? Will you pray with me?
