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The
Gift of Myrrh
Fr.
George Smiga
January
7-8, 2006
Matthew
2:1-12
Why
would anyone choose to give myrrh to a baby? This is very
likely what was going through Mary's mind as the magi presented
their gifts to her son. Gold? Gold is always useful, especially
if your economic situation was as dire as that of the holy
family. Frankincense is less desirable, but at least it could
add an aroma to the air around the house. But myrrh? Myrrh
was a spice used to embalm a dead body—hardly a gift to present
to a newborn child. What could this exotic man from the East
have been thinking to offer such a gift? Obviously he could
have benefited from a shopping consultant.
Yet,
even as we appreciate Mary's perplexity, from the viewpoint
of two thousand years it is obvious to us that the gifts of
the magi were more symbolic than practical. If this newborn
child was truly human (and everything we celebrate in this
Christmas seasons attests that he was) then the wise men knew
that his life would be a mixture of the three things that
their gifts represented: the gold of achievement and success,
the frankincense of happiness and joy, and the myrrh of suffering
and death. Every human life is a mixture of these three things:
success, joy, and pain. By presenting these gifts to the Christ
child, the wise men were testifying that he was truly human.
They were celebrating the fact that God really became one
of us.
But
of course there is more. Through the incarnation, Christ not
only took up our humanity, but he also redefined what it is
to be human. Through his life, death and resurrection, we
now have the opportunity of living these three aspects of
our humanity in a different and deeper way. As his disciples
we can approach the achievements with humility. We can approach
our joys with thanksgiving. We can approach our suffering
with strength.
But,
like Mary, it is the myrrh that trips us up. With God's grace
we can usually learn to be humble in our achievements and
thankful in our blessings. But trying to be strong in our
pain and suffering is the real challenge of life. When an
evil which we cannot avoid or change enters our life, when
we have to deal with the death of someone that we love, with
divorce, with cancer, with the betrayal of a friend, with
addiction, with a terrible mistake that has hurt others, it
is possible to respond in three ways. We can respond with
denial, with despair, or with acceptance.
Those
who choose to respond to pain with denial try to protect themselves
from the suffering by rejecting what is real. Although this
might soften the pain, it does so at the cost of separating
those who choose denial from the real joys and the real relationships
in their life. Those who choose the way of denial will in
time have to live without love, because denial suffocates
what is vital and valuable in living.
Those
who take the approach of despair go in a different direction.
They wrap themselves in their own self-pity and give up on
life. They emphasize only what is wrong in their life. They
ignore every possibility of hope. They distance themselves
from those who love them, isolating their lives in their suffering.
But
there is a way of dealing with pain that is neither denial
nor despair. It is possible to accept the things that we cannot
change. Those who take the approach of acceptance strive to
emphasize the good things that are still present in their
life, the people who still love them, and try to move forward
attentive to every sign of hope. It is here where Christ is
most important, because with Christ there is always hope.
What we have learned from this newborn child is that our God
will never abandon us, that God who moved his own son beyond
the cross will move us beyond our suffering to new life. For
those who have faith in Christ, it is possible to accept the
things we cannot change with strength. It is possible to find
hope even in the shadow of death.
So
who would give myrrh to a baby? A wise man. A wise man who
understood that this child would give new depth to our humanity.
In this child we can be humble in our achievements, thankful
in our blessings, and strong in our pain. As life presents
us with these three aspects of our humanity, we are called
to live them out as followers of Christ.
So
if you wake up tomorrow morning and find some myrrh on your
doorstep, do not deny it or let it lead you to despair. Instead
accept the things you cannot change with the strength and
the hope that comes from the newborn King of the Jews.
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