1In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, 2‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They 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.”’ 7Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then 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.’ 9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On 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. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. (Matthew 2.1-12)

The star of Bethlehem was probably not very bright. There is no indication that anyone saw it other than the Wise Men. Actually from Matthew's report it would seem that the star appeared twice. It appeared a first time in the sky and based on its position they concluded that it signalled the birth of a king in Israel. So at first they did not follow the star as one would follow an arrow pointing the way, but they followed the meaning of the star. When they arrived in Israel they went straight to the King, Herod, to see the new prince that the star signalled. It was only after they left Herod that the star appeared again. It was then that the star appeared to lead them to the Christ Child.

The wise men came to Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh. The assumption has always been that because there were three gifts mentioned then there were three wise men. There is no indication in the text that this is so and there might have been any number in the group. Gold, Frankincense and myrrh each have their own significance.

Gold was the material used to make a crown. This was the respect that they were giving to Jesus as a king and a man of authority. As the story of his life unfolded it would be evident that Jesus had no need of a Gold crown to demonstrated for the world his kingship - as the ‘King of Kings’ he would wear a crown - a crown of thorns. The idea of authority demonstrated through service is what is intended when the husband is described as having authority over his wife. This does not suggest that he should be able to tell her what to do. Instead it means that he should serve his wife as Christ served the church.

Frankincense was used in worship. It was made from the sap of the frankincense tree. In Old Testament Judaism it was used in a number of different ways to worship God. It was one of the ingredients in the holy anointing oil (Ex. 30:34). It was also burnt as part of the cereal offering (Lv. 6:15) and placed on the showbread in the tabernacle (Lv. 24:7). Not only will this child lead people to worship God. He himself will also be worshipped.

Myrrh was the strangest and most shocking of all the gifts - used as embalming fluid mainly for anointing the dead. Even as a child in the manger it was being made clear to Mary that her son Jesus had also come to die.

There is something of the gold, Frankincense and myrrh and in how God wants each of us to live our lives.

Gold is authority: The Kings travelled across the known world to honour Jesus, but those in his own back yard failed to recognize him. The Jews had supposedly been watching for the Messiah for hundreds of years. Equally for us we can miss out on the power and significance of what we have right here under our nose. It is easy to underestimate the authority we have as Christians. It is a fabulous thing to have a sense of our place in eternity rather than simply needing to find our place in the struggle of day-to-day living. It is easy to ignore the fact that sometimes when people want our opinion they are actually looking for our help. It is easy to use the idea of humility to duck our responsibility for a situation. Remember that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking less about yourself.

Frankincense is worship: We are not put on this earth to work but to glorify God. The trouble comes when we work too hard and our faith becomes a part of our working week rather than an expression of our creativity. Not only are we making our own lives the object of our attention but also we are not able to lead other people to worship God. There are four written gospels in the Bible. The fifth is the gospel written on our hearts and this is often the only gospel that people who do not come to church will have an opportunity to read.

Myrrh is death. Death is not a one off event at some unspecified time in the future but it is a way of living our lives here and now – putting ourselves out for other people, listening rather than talking, giving money to the church and to other good causes. There is a lot of hidden poverty in Shepherds Bush. We (as a gathered group of people) can help and make a difference in a disjointed fragmented community. What we know by faith is that our pursuit of death is in fact a pursuit of life and God takes the little pieces that we have to offer and makes them fabulous.