After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 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, frankincense and myrrh.
Matthew 2.9-11
The gifts of the magi were not given by way of assistance or need-meeting. God is not "served by human hands, as though he needed anything" (Acts 17.25). Indeed, it would dishonor a monarch if foreign visitors came with royal care passages. Nor were these gifts meant to be bribes. Deuteronomy 10.17 says that God doesn't accept them. So what was the significance of these gifts? What do they teach us about worship?
The magi's gifts were intensifiers of the desire for Christ himself in much the same way fasting might be for us. When you give this type of gift to Christ, it is a way of saying, "The joy that I pursue is not the hope of gaining something from you. I have not come to you for what you give me, but for you yourself." And this desire I now intensify and demonstrate by giving up these things in hope of enjoying you more and enjoying things less.
By giving to him what he dose not need, and things that we might otherwise enjoy, we say more earnestly and authentically, "You are my treasure, not these things." I think that's what it means to worship God with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
May God awaken in us a desire for Christ himself. May we say from the heart, "Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah, the King of Israel. All nations will come and bow down before you. God wields the world to see that you are worshipped. Therefore, whatever opposition I may find, I joyfully ascribe authority and dignity to you, and bring my gifts to say that you alone can satisfy my heart, not these."
This is a excerpt from 'Joy to the World-Daily Readings for Advent' by John Piper.
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