What Presents Did You Get?

What Presents Did You Get?

Matthew 2:1-12

December 27, 2020

So what did you get for Christmas this year? Did you get everything that was on your list? Maybe you are like our family and you still have presents to unwrap yet as you haven’t been able to get together with family. Here are some last minute gifts to consider for that special hard to buy for person.

1. Nose whistle, because a recorder simply wasn’t annoying enough

2. How about some lights for your beard

3. Or for the couple

4. For the Republican in your family

5. For the snorer in your family

These are some fun white elephant gifts. It is fun to give some gag gifts once and a while. Growing up with the big Bogaard Christmas gathering there would often be a gift under the tree from Santa and it was sure to be pretty funny.

Often time however we tend to put more thoughtfulness into the gifts that we are giving to our loved ones. We ask for lists. We want to know what people want and/or need when we are buying them gifts. Sometimes we give a gift that the person wouldn’t normally buy for themselves.

Gift giving has become a focal point of the Christmas season. It is fun to give and to receive gifts for sure. We love to see the expression on someone’s face when we got them the perfect gift.

Today we look at the first gift givers at Christmas, the gifts that they gave and who they were giving them too. Let’s turn to Matthew 2:1-12.

So as we have done with Joseph and Mary, what is fact and what is fiction when it comes to these Magi from the East.

There were three wise men, Melchior, Baltazar and Gasper who traveled from the east on camels to present Jesus with gifts? If we were putting this to the snopes.com test it would come back with mixed results. Just like so much of the Christmas story, some of the blanks have been filled in by the Western church to fit in with western culture.

So separating the truths out of here. We don’t know for sure how many there were that came to see Jesus. We say three and see three in Christmas pageants because of the three gifts that they bring. The truth that we know is that they did present 3 gifts to Jesus but we don’t know how many Magi that there were. It could have been anywhere from 2 – several.

They may have been former Jews that had remained in Babylon after the exile. This would explain them knowing the promise and prophecy. They may have been learned astrologers that when they saw an anomaly in the sky, they knew something was going on and after consulting manuscripts came across the prophecies of the Old Testament.

If they were men of high position they would more than likely have traveled with an entourage of servants and so on. The facts are that we don’t really know for sure any of this. We don’t know how many, their names, exactly what was meant by Magi or wise men.

We do know that they had seen a star and based upon its appearance or something else they were pretty sure that a new king of the Jews had been born and they had traveled from the east to pay homage to this new king. They weren’t totally sure where to find him but figured King Herod would know. I’m guessing here that they did not know Herod’s paranoia.

They found out where the king was supposed to be born, in Bethlehem and they were able then to proceed and find Jesus there in a house (not a stable or cave). When they saw Jesus they bowed down and worshipped him and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And lastly after they had worshipped they did not go back to Herod as they had been warned in a dream not too.

Before we talk about the presents I want to point out a strange thing and something for us to consider. When they told Herod about this new born king, Herod was troubled and I guess I get that but the part that is a head scratcher to me is, “and all Jerusalem with him.”

When the chief priests had been asked about this event, you would think that after they reported to King Herod that they would have rejoiced. They had been waiting for the promised Messiah and here it appeared that these Magi had pretty good word that it had happened. Why would they not send a secret contingent to tail the Magi and see what they find? Why were they troubled?