The story of the three wise men in Mathew’s Gospel is one that
has a degree of controversy about it.
However I think what is most controversial of all, is the romantic
interpretation of the carol “We three Kings” gives to the story. The carol I
think misses the point on more than one ground. First Mathew’s Gospel doesn't refer
to Kings and secondly Mathew does not provide an interpretation of the symbolism
of the gifts and I do wonder, if the Carol has got the symbolism of the gifts
wrong.
Looking again at the biblical account; on the one hand the wise
men appear to be pretty good navigators using the stars. However they fall for
the idea that a God King will be born in a palace and head to Herod’s palace
and have to make enquires as to where the birth place of the servant God King was
to be found.
Now let’s think about the gifts they took, were they
appropriate for a God King? Okay gold is a sign of Kingship but would they have
taken it to a king born in a palace?
Now this is where I just wonder, if perhaps we could
interpretive the story in a different way.
The three wise men had come to the palace expecting to pay
homage to a new born King but he’s not there and they find instead the star
leads them on to Bethlehem to pay homage to the new king. Now what gifts might
actually be appropriate and practical and what could they locate on the way
from Jerusalem to Bethlehem which might be appropriate to a family on limited
means who will have to flee the country in a few weeks and are faced with bringing
up a precious child, in the first century, where modern health and hygiene
provision is not available?
What would you take, if it was possible to travel back in time?
Actually some money or
interchangeable currency might be really useful, as would some disinfectant
spray to keep the bugs away, and some antiseptic cream would be a really
practical item.
So maybe the gold was spot on, as gold coins would have been the
ultimate interchangeable currency. Perhaps the frankincense is the disinfectant
spray; friends who have worked in Bangladesh have told that its really good in
church for keeping the flies away and perhaps the myrrh was that precious antiseptic
oil.
So what’s the message of the story of the three wise men on discovering
that the God King was not to be born in a palace but in a poor home and that to
meet him they had to travel on to a little town and find a poor family taking
with them some practical gifts.
Maybe there is a message for us here, having heard the
Christmas story we need to move on from the festival of Christmas where we have
lived and eaten like kings and travel on to meet the Christ Child elsewhere.
So if today you want to catch up with the God King maybe just
maybe you will find him not in a place of comfort but rather in a small out of
the way town or isolated community or back street or tower block, in the home
of a poor family. Where to pay homage requires practical useful gifts not
symbolic gestures.
A charity that can help you do just this is Act 435 see http://acts435.org.uk also check out your local food
bank, details of many but not all can be found at www.trusselltrust.org
