Feast of the Epiphany
Cycle
A
January 5, 2014 7:30 and 9am
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel
Air
The Gift of the Magi
About
100 years ago, one of the best-known American writers was O’Henry.
O’Henry
was the pen name for William Sydney Porter.
One of O’Henry’s famous short stories is titled The Gift of the Magi.
On
the surface, this story is not about the magi who are the center of today’s
gospel. Instead, it is about a poor,
young couple named Jim and Della.
As
Christmas approaches, Della wants to give Jim a chain for the gold pocket watch
that he had received from his father.
The problem is that she doesn’t have enough money to buy it, but then
she gets an idea.
Della
has beautiful, long curly hair, and she decides to cut off her curls and sell
them. Christmas Eve comes, and she
arrives home with a nicely wrapped box containing the chain.
Della
enters the apartment and there is Jim also holding a nicely wrapped box with his
gift for Della. They exchange gifts and
are amazed.
Della
has given Jim a platinum chain for his watch and Jim has given Della some
beautiful combs for her hair. Of course,
they quickly realize what has happened.
Della
has cut and sold her curls to buy the chain.
And Jim has sold his watch to buy the combs.
The Symbolism
This
short story is very touching not so much because of the actual gifts that Jim
and Dela give one another.
Instead,
it is moving because of what the gifts symbolize. The watch chain and the combs symbolize their
unselfish love for each other.
And
this must be why O’Henry called his story The
Gift of the Magi. The gifts that the
magi give the infant Jesus are not that important in themselves.
Instead,
they point to something else. They
symbolize something about Jesus and even about the magi.
Gold
The
first gift is gold.
Ancient
peoples realized that this was the king of all metals. And so, this gift points to the Child Jesus
as in some way a king.
The
magi sense that this Child will be a leader.
He will do something good for his people.
In
this way, the gold points to Jesus’ identity as the spiritual king or leader. In fact, the Child Jesus is the Son of God on
this earth and he will do something great for all of humanity.
Frankincense
The second gift is frankincense.
Frankincense is like the incense we sometimes use here at
Mass. In Jesus’ day, when animals were
sacrificed in the temple, frankincense was burned to produce a fragrant smell.
This gift points to the sacrifice that the Child Jesus will eventually
make of himself on the cross. Jesus’
sacrifice brings about the reconciliation between God and humanity.
And now, whenever we celebrate Mass, we are repeating the
sacrifice of the cross under the forms of bread and wine. This is the sacrament of the Eucharist.
Myrrh
And then the third gift is myrrh.
Myrrh was used to prepare a body for burial. So in this sense, the myrrh follows from the
frankincense.
After Jesus is sacrificed on the cross, his body will be prepared
for burial. So interestingly, with this
gift Jesus’ birth and death are connected through the visit of the Magi.
The myrrh also points to a death and birth in the Magi
themselves. Their finding the Christ
Child means the death of their old perspective on things.
This is especially a dying to finding security in human
power. We see this in their wise
discerning not to return to King Herod.
Their visit to the Christ Child also means a birth to something
new. They are born into a new way of
seeing God as embracing all people and as identifying in a special way with the
poor and vulnerable.
So the myrrh is the most complex of the three gifts. The gold speaks of the Christ Child as the
Son of God and the frankincense reveals that he himself will be sacrificed.
And now the myrrh connects this Child’s birth and death and points
to the death and birth required of us as we place our faith in Him. That is the richness of these three symbols –
The Gift of the Magi.
