Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

This essay was written for the Feast of the Epiphany in 2020.

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What can a child do with gold, frankincense, and myrrh? Surely Mary was too polite to ask that of the magi, but more than a few people have wondered about it.

These are not just curious gifts for a child. They’re curious gifts to give God. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, a Trappist monk from Massachusetts, makes the point that, if the magi knew Jesus was God — if they knew, as the text says, to “fall down and worship him” (Mt 2:11) — then they also would have known that “there was nothing they could give him he did not already possess.” He’s God. What’s he going to do with gold?

A similar situation occurred years later when Martha’s sister poured out an entire pound of nard ointment on Jesus’s feet (Jn 12:1-8). It was Judas who complained. “Why was this ointment not sold and given to the poor?” Judas’s question is not far off from ours. What good is it to pour out expensive perfumes upon Jesus’ feet? What good is it to gift him treasures? Isn’t there a better use?

Many Church Fathers understood these gifts symbolically. Jesus isn’t supposed to do anything with them. They’re meant to honor him — gold because he was a king; frankincense, the fragrance burned during worship, because he was God; and myrrh, a resin used for burials, because he was to die. 

The gifts of the magi were meant to convey something that was happening in their hearts. The gifts conveyed their devotion. It is the same for Martha’s sister, pouring out her prized perfume upon Jesus’ feet. When retelling this story, John remembers that “the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.” He remembers that she knelt down and “wiped [Jesus’] feet with her hair” (Jn 12:3). Can devotion be conveyed more vividly? 

It’s the same with our own gifts for Jesus. Probably you don’t have any myrrh or nard ointment for him. That’s not the point. Matthew’s text says that, upon seeing Jesus, the magi “opened their treasures” and reached for their gifts (Mt 2:11).

What is your most cherished possession? Maybe it’s your family? A friendship? Some people cherish their things by guarding them. There are some things we keep hidden and buried, far away from even our own sight: past mistakes we’re not sure how to move forward from, broken relationships that don’t make sense, things we’re still angry at God about. In an odd way, these are things we treasure, things we refuse to let go of. 

Are there things you have buried away in the coffers of your heart? Things you don’t even let God see? These are precisely the things we find when, upon encountering Jesus, we “open our treasures.” These are our gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These are, in the end, the most costly things we can give him. They’re all we really have if we want to give him something precious. 

When the Christian encounters Jesus, their first move is to “open their treasures.” Their first move is to reach for their most cherished possessions, to pour them out upon the feet of Jesus, to dry it all up with their hair. 

Recall Jesus’ response to Judas’ complaint about the perfume that could have been sold for the poor: “Let her alone…. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” Give your money to the poor. Give your time and your energy to the poor. They are always with you. But give your gold, your frankincense, and your myrrh to Jesus. Give what you treasure, what you cling to, and even what you fear to Jesus.