The Gift of the Magi – Advent 2024

Summary

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Dr. Andrew Swafford unpacks the rich symbolism behind the Magi and the gifts they bring to the Christ child. He traces the roots of the star and the journey of the wise men through Old Testament prophecies, illuminating how these symbols reveal God’s plan for the Messiah. Dr. Swafford also challenges us to follow Christ’s example of self-gift by offering ourselves as gifts to Christ, making this talk an inspiring reflection on true worship during the Christmas season.

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Reflective Study Guide Questions

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“Man cannot fully find himself, except through a sincere gift of himself.”

Pope John Paul II

1. In this talk, Dr. Swafford unpacks the profound significance of the star that led the Magi to the Christ Child as well as the rich symbolism of the gifts they brought, what stood out to you the most while listening? What might God want you to learn from these Scripture passages?

2. Do you strive to make an offering of your life to God, particularly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? What holds you back from joyfully making yourself a gift?

3. Who in your life needs you the most? What people in your life do you feel like “gets in the way” of your sanctity? How might God be inviting you to stretch your heart by loving them well?

4. What steps can you take in this season of Advent to offer yourself as a gift to the Christ Child on Christmas morning?

Text: The Gift of the Magi

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Friends, good to be with you. How are you doing? My name is Dr. Swafford. I’m coming to you from Benedictine College here in Atchison, Kansas, and we’re going to talk about the magi today. But first, let’s begin in prayer.

Opening Prayer

In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

The Gospel of Matthew

So, the magi, part of the Christmas stories we’ve heard probably since we were kids. Let’s dive into this little narrative here. So, we’ll start, this is in the gospel of Matthew. The magi come to Bethlehem, they see the star. “After listening to the king,” so Herod, “they went on their way and behold, the star they had seen when it rose went before them, until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts; gold and frankincense and myrrh.” So, Matthew 2:9-11.

Prophecy in Numbers 24:17

So first, the star, and I realize there’s work done on what might have been the star of Bethlehem and what might they have seen, and can we track astronomically what this might be? But let me just also kind of mention, if you remember the church fathers, and that is to view the star as an angel. On the one hand, there’s some cool stuff out there, but I would caution against insisting on a naturalistic explanation because if you were to say, “Hey, where’s your house?” If I was like, “My house is the one under the star.” Would you know where to go? Prob probably not, right? Stars don’t identify houses because they’re so big, so far away. For many of the church fathers, they believe that the star was an angel that guides these wise men along the way. And you might even wonder why would these wise men, these magi, how do we think of them coming from the east? Why would they even think about the star?

Well, there is this prophecy in Numbers chapter 24, verse 17, if you know the story of Balaam and Balak. Balak’s just the Moabite king and he hires this pagan prophet, Balaam to curse Israel. And this is all brewing from Numbers 22-24. And each time Balaam tries to curse Israel, blessing comes out, and Balak’s like, “I didn’t pay you for that!” And the fourth one has this reference of the star. I see a star and the scepter rising, and it really becomes a messianic prophecy. Now, this is over in the area near where Iraq and Syria intersect in the Euphrates where Balaam’s coming from. Possibly that tradition trickled down, or perhaps maybe more likely that when the Jews were taken into exile in Babylon, they probably shared this prophecy with some of their neighbors. In some way it gets to these magi, these wise men, and they, again, I think we have to not insist on naturalistic explanation because how do you make sense of that? I think something supernatural’s going on here. Some encounter these wise men had that they should follow this star? Is it a star? Is it an angel? I don’t know.

But in some ways you can see in them, and if you pair them with the shepherds, the magi represent Gentiles, non-Jews, converging on recognizing the Messiah in Jesus Christ. And the shepherds, from the land of Israel, Jews recognizing the Messiah and Jesus. So you see, the Gentiles and the Jews converging on the Messiah. You might, in a slightly different way, depending on how we construe all these events, see the shepherds as coming via faith, and the magi, I though I wouldn’t press this too far, coming via reason, knowledge of the stars, et cetera, but as I’ve been saying, there seems to be more to it, something more supernatural going on.

Psalm 72

There’s a couple key passages in the background. So, one being Psalm 72. And this is really where the notion of we three kings of orient are is going to come from. This and a passage from Isaiah. So in Psalm 72, and Psalm 72 is a psalm of Solomon, it’s about the glory age of Solomon, but it’s also very much about the one to whom Solomon points: the Messiah. So in Psalm 72, we get a sense for this universal dominion of the Davidic King, or at least the aspiration for it, that is only going to be fully captured in Jesus Christ.

But Psalm 72 verse eight, “May he have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.” Verse 10, here’s the key, “May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him.” Notice the combination of gifts, falling down and serve. That language is often worship type image. Go back to Matthew. Matthew 2:9-11. “They saw the child with Mary,” so we’re in verse 10, “his mother and they fell down,” just as we have here, in Psalm 72 verse 11, “may all the kings fall down.” Matthew 2:11, “They fell down and worshiped him, offering gold, frankincense and myrrh.” And just as Psalm 72 verse 11, “May all kings fall down and serve.” Again, the serve him is worship language, and just mention them bringing gifts.

Good News

So, reading Psalm 72 in the background of the magi episode, this is part of what gives rise to this notion of thinking of them as kings; this we three kings of orient are. And this is fulfilled in Jesus. Also, Isaiah chapter 60, verses three and six, Isaiah, in describing this great salvation to come for ancient Israel, “Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.” That’s verse three of chapter 60 of Isaiah. And then even more intriguing, verse six, “They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring good news that praises the Lord.” So here is Isaiah describing kings bringing gold and frankincense. I don’t know about you, but if Matthew is just cooking the books, you think he would’ve just had it match perfectly the prophecy of Isaiah. Just talk about the gold and frankincense, why bring up the myrrh, unless that’s exactly how it happened and Mary and Matthew is true to history there? Here, this prophecy of kings coming, bringing gold and frankincense. And notice that word, they shall bring good news. This is basar in Hebrew, the Greek of Isaiah uses a verbal form of euangelion, which is gospel.

See, Isaiah was known as the fifth gospel in the other church. On the one hand, because there’s so many messianic prophecies, yeah, but also because the Greek of Isaiah actually uses the word gospel. And we use gospel just means good news, well yeah, but it’s got a little bit more teeth behind it when you know its Jewish and Hebrew background. So, for Isaiah and for other places in the Old Testament, the euangelion, the gospel really refers to a couple things, three in particular. The return of the Lord to Zion, that is God’s return to his people. Two, his enthronement as king. He returns and his enthronement as king. He’s always king, but he needs to be recognized by us as king. And then thirdly, the conversion of the nations. This is one of the great hopes of the Old Testament, that the Gentiles, the nations would turn away from their gods of wood and stone and gold and silver and reject those and repent and turn to worship the true and living God, the God of Israel.

Friends, think about this. You and I, most of us are a bunch of Gentiles worshiping the God of Israel in the face of Jesus Christ. That has been fulfilled. And think about this passage now with the magi; it’s being fulfilled right there with the magi. As I’ve mentioned, for the tradition, the magi and the shepherds, the Gentiles and the Jews converging in this new race called catholic “ katholikos”, according to the whole, this universal family of God converging on the lordship of Jesus Christ, the one true Messiah.

The Symbolism of the Gifts

Now let’s talk about the gifts. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are also symbolic. So, we say three kings because three gifts, but it doesn’t actually tell us if there’s three. But the gold signifying royalty, kingship. Frankincense signifying priesthood, like incense, the incense offered. So a royal priest, Jesus is a royal priest. The myrrh has connections to his burial, his death. So for example, in John’s gospel when Nicodemus is burying Jesus. Nicodemus, who also had earlier come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes for his burial. That’s John 19:39. The myrrh evokes his death.

And the thing is, Jesus is absolutely king, but you know where his enthronement is? On the cross. And you know what sacrifice really is all about in ancient Israel? Sacrifice in ancient Israel is really a ritualized self-offering. A ritualized self-offering. The sacrifices of ancient Israel all have different hues, different overtones, but the whole burnt offering, the olah. All of it is burnt off. It’s totally offered to God. In fact, the root there, Allah means to go up. So the olah is what’s totally burnt up, totally taken up. A ritualized self-offering.

Jesus’ sacrifice is perfect because you have a perfect union of what is offered and the offerer. ‘Cause he offers his very self. He offers his very self. So Jesus as king, gold. The frankincense, priesthood. And friends, we’ll come back to this in the end, but if all you saw was the crucifixion, if all you saw was the cross, you would not be like, “Oh, there’s a great priestly sacrifice.” You would say, “There is a Roman execution.” It’s because, and only because of what Jesus did at the Last Supper that makes the cross a sacrifice. That’s crucial. Because if you’re just standing around and you see the crucifixion, you’re not thinking anything but here is a tragic Roman execution. It’s because of what Jesus does at the Last Supper, where he begins his self-offering there, which culminates and climaxes and is perfected on the cross. And not just the cross, but the resurrection and ascension into heaven.

All right, so what about the myrrh? The myrrh is burial. The myrrh is, again, it’s priestly self-offering, that offers his entire self-bringing him to his death, and this is his kingship. Now friends, this isn’t just about Jesus. As St. Augustine once said, “What happens to the head will happen to the body.” If you want to know what Christianity is all about, in a sentence, it’s for the Holy Spirit to reproduce, to recapitulate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through each and every one of us. That God the Father sends the Son, and the Son assumes our humanity, dies our death, rises to new life, comes out the other side and sends the Spirit to empower us to do the same. Think of Jesus on the cross not as substitute, but going there in solidarity with us as our head. So solidarity, not substitute. He goes as our head, he blazes the trail, he sends the Spirit to empower us to do the same. That’s what it’s all about.

The Meaning of Life is Self-Gift

And so, where are we headed with this? Well, if Jesus is the priestly offering, it’s his total self-gift. He offers himself for us, yes, absolutely, but this is also what we’re called to. The meaning of life is self-gift. To make of our lives a total offering in love. This is what it’s all about. And this is what St. John Paul II said so often, that self-gift is the meaning. So not self-assertion, not self-aggrandizement, self-gift, self-offering. That Jesus both reveals God to us and reveals the authentically human life to us. He reveals God to us, but he also reveals man to us. He shows us the way. He shows us the way. Now think about so many aspects of the Christian life. It’s all about a participation in the Paschal mystery, an entrance into his death and resurrection. This begins in our baptism. We’re baptized into his death, says St. Paul and resurrection. Romans 6:3,4. This continues through the spirit’s ongoing transformation of our lives. But in a unique and culminating way, it culminates in the Holy Eucharist. Why the Eucharist? It’s so the Paschal mystery is never locked in the past.

Think about what the priest says, that we may be offered up in him, with him and through him to the Father. The mass becomes the offering, not just of the head, but of the entire body of Christ. And this is where I would encourage all of us, when the gifts are being brought forth, think of throwing your heart on the altar. Because the gifts are brought forth, but we’re also offering our entire lives with Jesus on the altar. All of your fears, your sufferings, your achievements, your triumphs, your joys, your sorrows, your loved ones, place them on the altar with Jesus Christ. That they may be offered up in him, with him and through the Father. And you know where this climaxes; it’s in our martyrdom.

Love Fully Actualizes a Person

Saint Ignatius of Antioch in 107 AD, he speaks about his impending martyrdom. He says, “Well, then I will be a complete disciple.” This will be the completion of my discipleship. Because he sees his martyrdom as sort of the finale that was beginning, was brewing all these years. Now, for some of us, this may be red; in perfect imitation of Christ, this red martyrdom. But for many of us, this will be white. This will be that daily death to self, that he may increase and we may decrease. This is what the Christian life is all about. To kind of bring this all together. Another thing that John Paul II taught is that love fully actualizes the person. Love fully actualizes the person. So, we think about our growth in sanctity, the sanctification of our lives.

Occasionally we can fall into a trap of self-aggrandizement. Well, I’m doing this program and this program, I’ve read this book and I’ve done these prayers and I’m getting better. And those are beautiful things, and absolutely. But it’s worth recalling and keeping this in a healthy tension with what John Paul II’s teaching us, that love fully actualizes the person. In a letter that he wrote, he once said that the people that need us the most, that’s who we need the most. The people that are most dependent upon us, that need us the most, that’s who we need the most. Why? Because it draws a greater love out of us. It stretches us. The more we see love as that which most fully actualizes the person, the less we see the people in our lives as getting in the way of our sanctity, getting in the way of our growth, they’re actually becoming the means of our growth. This is that white martyrdom. And we might not feel like we’re growing, but in truth, we are being stretched beyond our capacity, we are called to love beyond our ordinary means, and that’s a martyrdom, that’s the cross, that’s this total self-offering.

John 10:18

So, see all of this in the magi. Yes, cute Christmas story. We celebrate this at the epiphany, the manifestation of Christ. Yes, yes and yes. See in the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh the cross. The kingship of Jesus, the priesthood of Jesus through the offering of his life entirely. As he says in John’s gospel, John 10:18, “No one takes my life from me, I lay it down.” Can we see and hear the meaning of the Christian life? That sometimes we’re called to love our enemies. They might not be across the ocean; they might be the neighbor, family member, the people in our lives that just kind of prick us, that are harder to love. Can we love them with joy that is so pleasing and so blessed in God’s eyes? Can we be radically heroic in the little things behind the scenes? This is the stuff of saints, especially if we can do it with joy, not in a fake way, but with authentic joy.

I’m going to love Jesus in other people. Because other people, as we know, they’re going to let you down, they’re going to hurt you, disappoint you. But not Jesus. Can we love Jesus in and through the people right in front of us? The people that sometimes maybe it’s harder to love.

I’ll be praying for you. Please, pray for me. Stay the course. Jesus loves you. This is the hardest thing to really believe, to really hone in on, to really make our own not just one day, but consistently throughout time, that God loves you, he has a plan for you, and it’s never stopped. Your mission in life is never in the rear view mirror. He’s got a plan for you right now, this day, this hour, this week. And you and I are destined, not in the end for this life, but for eternity. Pray for me, I’ll pray for you. God bless you all and take care.

About Dr. Andrew Swafford

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