i hope everyone had a happy three kings day.
for those that don’t normally celebrate three kings day (3 K day), it’s traditionally the 12th day of Christmas and recognized as the day that the 3 kings visit the baby Jesus bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
growing up, my family celebrated 3 K day and we’ve continued that tradition in our own home. we leave our Christmas tree up until january 6, because on the eve of 3 K day, the kids fill up a shoebox with grass or hay and put in under our tree for the camels of the three kings so that they can continue their journey to see the Christ child. we’ve also been known to put out a bowl of water and substituted carrots as a treat for the camels. during the night, the 3 kings travel through and leave a ‘thank you’ for those that left the food out for the travellers.
the other night, my sis, nadine and i were talking about the three kings’ journey as told in Matthew 2. a couple of things we took away from our discussion were…
the scripture in Matthew 2 tells us that the three kings went to the Christ child bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh–all with special significance. faucett’s bible dictionary states that
gold is “emblem of purity,” frankincense “with its sweet perfume, symbolizes prayer accepted before God,” and myrrh was an “ingredient of the holy anointing oil (Exo. 30:23), typical of Messiah’s graces (Ps. 45:8).”
while the gifts that the 3 kings brought were indeed precious, we talked about how precious the gift of their journey was. we thought about how these kings/magi must have had a lot going on in their lives. for them to have brought such precious gifts, they had to have been wealthy with many people working for them. even so, they left all that they were doing to embark on a journey to a destination unknown. in my opinion, while the gifts carried, and then presented to Jesus, were precious and held symbolic significance, the gift of their willingness to go on this journey was precious in its own right. did they leave bearing gifts from God?
Matthew 2:12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.
when they left, they took a different route. they were warned by God not to go back to Herod. after having seen the Christ child, they could not go back the way they came. when we thought about this in terms of a life journey, we couldn’t help but contemplate how the three kings’ journey had led them to a different path after being with, and worshipping, Jesus.
with today being three kings day, what about us? are we choosing to follow the light of God to embark on a journey with Jesus? when we encounter Jesus, do we fall to the ground and worship Him (Matthew 2:11)? what gifts do we bring and present to Jesus? what gifts do we leave with? is our path forever changed?
Hi Ginny. We used the text from John 4, ‘The woman at the well’ last Sunday and it really came home that in his meeting with her Jesus was revealed . You could say she had her own personal ‘Epiphany’, and then she went and spread the news and more people came and followed Jesus.
I posted a blog with a prayer which you might like to have a look at.
Be in the Son