You might be familiar with the concept of Christmas pageants. All the little kids get dressed up and take their places to form a Nativity scene while Christmas hymns are played or sung. It’s cute. It’s adorable. It’s completely inaccurate.
Usually these things have three little boys dressed as kings who parade down an aisle bearing the three biblical gifts for the Christ child: Gold, Frankincense, and myrrh. As they enter the hymn changes to “We Three Kings.”
1 We three kings of Orient are;
bearing gifts we traverse afar,
field and fountain, moor and mountain,
following yonder star.
Refrain:
O star of wonder, star of light,
star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.
2 Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain,
gold I bring to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
over us all to reign. [Refrain]
3 Frankincense to offer have I;
incense owns a Deity nigh;
prayer and praising, voices raising,
worshiping God on high. [Refrain]
4 Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume
breathes a life of gathering gloom;
sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
sealed in the stone-cold tomb. [Refrain]
5 Glorious now behold him arise;
King and God and sacrifice:
Alleluia, Alleluia,
sounds through the earth and skies. [Refrain]
The composer and creator of this piece was John Henry Hopkins, Jr. Hopkins was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1820 and graduated from the General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1850. He gave the song a plodding rhythm to emphasize the long journey of the Wise Men to see Jesus. Here is the inspiring scripture:
Matthew 2:1-12
2 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 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. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
By the time the Wise Men got to Jesus he was probably about 2 years old, so you might find the choice of presents confusing. But the gifts are very significant for their symbolism. Gold signified royalty, frankincense the priesthood, and myrrh mortality (it was poured on the bodies of the recently deceased). Is this story the reason we give gifts at Christmas?
Well, kind of. Many people do point to the gifs of the Magi as the reason for giving gifts at Christmas. And maybe that was a small part of it, but the reality comes more from Roman history.
Gift giving around this time was popular long before Christmas was celebrated. Ancient Roman festivals contained the custom, especially the festival called Saturnalia, occurring between December 17 and 23. An interesting thing about this festival is that everyone was (temporarily) thought of as equals, and gifts were given on the 19th of the month. Gag gifts were the norm and some bosses gave money to their clients or employees in order to encourage them to participate in the giving. It was incredibly popular as you might imagine. In fact it was so popular that, when Rome converted to Christianity and did away with many of the pagan festivities, the practice of gift giving lived on in the newly minted Christmas holiday.
What about Santa Claus? Wasn’t he the main inspiration for gifts? There really was a Saint Nicholas. He lived in the 4th century and served as the Bishop of Myra. The somewhat fanciful story attributed to him speaks of three maidens whose father fell upon hard times and was not able to give them dowries (no dowry meant no marriage). The story goes that Saint Nicholas heard of their plight and secretly threw a coin purse into their house through the window for three nights, one for each daughter. So Saint Nick secretly visited the house and gave them gifts at night. It doesn’t take much to imagine that story turning into the one we have today that features nightly visits via the chimney.
If there is a drawback to Christmas gifts it is this: they are most often expected. Studies show that surprise gifts are more appreciated. You have most likely experienced this if you have had children. The gift you spent so much time on for a birthday may not get the same amount of attention as a 5 dollar impulse buy at the store. That is because when a child knows a gift is coming their brains already start anticipating it. The actual getting of the gift is more like a confirmation. But a surprise present fills them with dopamine. The moral here is that surprising your loved one more is better than buying them more. Jesus was full of surprise gifts. I doubt the 5000+ people gathered there came with the expectation of a miracle gift of food. The wedding party did not expect amazing wine to suddenly appear. And most people healed by Christ were not expecting to be better off when that morning began.
Just about every time people expected something of Jesus they were misguided and wrong. But surprise and wonder? That was there in abundance.
Do something surprisingly good this season. Give a gift to someone who didn’t see it coming. Practice random acts of kindness. Be surprisingly like Jesus.