The gifts of the magi : incense

Wednesday January 5, 2022

The gift of the magi : incense

May my prayer be before you like incense, and my hands stretched out to you like the evening offering ! Psalm 141.2

Prostrated before the baby Jesus, the magi offer him gold, incense and myrrh and pay him homage... Why offer frankincense to Jesus ? Incense then had a value equivalent to, if not greater than, gold. Incense is an aromatic resin produced by a tree native to the southern Arabian Peninsula, where it is still cultivated today. It was frequently used in cults to deities in ancient civilizations. Thus, every day in the temple of Jerusalem, a priest offered incense to God, according to the prescription that God had given to Moses : Get yourself scented essences [...] and with these spices, refined incense [...]. You will make a perfumed mixture, composed by a perfumer, it will be a salty, pure and holy perfume... You will not make a perfume of the same composition for your personal use. You will regard it as a holy thing, reserved for the Lord. (Exodus 30.34-37)

Because of its smoke that rises to the sky and spreads everywhere, incense was synonymous with the prayers and worship of the faithful to God. The gift of incense therefore symbolically manifests the divinity of Jesus.

We no longer need to burn incense to come before God. In Jesus Christ we can raise our prayers before him !

Bernard Grebille

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Proposed reading : Book of Revelation, chapter 5, verses 6 to 10.

5.6 Then I saw a lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out through all the earth.

5.7 He came and took the book from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

5.8 When he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders bowed down to the lamb. Each one held a harp and golden bowls filled with perfumes, which are the prayers of the saints,

5.9 And they sang a new song, saying : Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof : for thou wast offered as a sacrifice, and hast redeemed for God by thy blood men of every tribe and of every tongue , of every people and of every nation.

5.10 Thou hast made of them kings and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

Source (Live Today)