On the Magi's Gifts

[A sermon delivered at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Phoenix, Arizona, on the Feast of the Epiphany, Tuesday, January 6, 2026]

✠ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, one in Essence and Undivided. Amen.

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. [1]

Dear family in Christ, this day we celebrate the great festival of the Epiphany of the Lord,[2] also called the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. As Christian feasts go, our secular culture has no idea what to do with it. While the world around us has taken down their decorations (except for those people who get around to it sometime between Independence and Labour Day), many Christians, to the puzzlement of their neighbours, leave their decorations up to blaze forth in full glory until this day. Truth be told, it is not only the secular society, but also many modern Christians, who have zero idea what to do with the day. We have seen trends among those who observe the day to move it to the nearest Sunday, downplay it, forget it, and otherwise treat it as a footnote, the exception being very Catholic or very Orthodox neighbourhoods.

Even Anglicans are a bit fuzzy despite our long traditions. We used to have parties on the eve of Epiphany, calling it Twelfth Night, and enjoying songs and spiced drinks and fruitcakes (yes, some people, myself included, still enjoy fruitcake). The calendar of the Episcopal Church gives the feast equal weight with Christmas and the other Principal Feasts, giving it privilege for elevated celebration the day of, and should it fall on a Sunday, giving it full privilege over what would have been the normative Sunday observances. At one time, it even ranked higher than Christmas, with an Octave whose days prohibit the observance of any other major festival. Indeed, in the Early Church, there is some evidence that the Nativity and the Epiphany were both combined as one on this day, a custom still observed by the Armenians.[3] Yet its importance seems to be waning year after year.

Why then do we make such a big deal of it, when everyone is chomping at the bit to get back to life as normal?

The fact of the matter is the premise of this day carries a lot of weight, both historically and theologically, particularly if we take the effort to unpack it. As our Gospel maintains, this is the day commemorating the Magi’s visit to worship the Incarnate Word and to bestow gifts both worthy and indicative of His status. In older observances, we had also commemorated His first miracle in Cana of Galilee and His baptism in the River Jordan, where the event was marked by the overt participation of every member of the Most Holy and Glorious Trinity. In fact, the Baptism of Our Lord is the main emphasis of the festival in the Eastern Church, and we in the West still commemorate it on the Sunday immediately following the day.[4] Here in the West, however, we concentrate this day on that first manifestation, when sages from beyond Mesopotamia came to Judaea to honour the Word made Flesh, the Light to enlighten the Gentiles, and thereby we acknowledge that God’s salvation was not merely for the descendants of Israel, but for all who come to that Light.

I am certain by now all of you have seen or heard the jokes and memes and commentary about the questionable practicality of the gifts offered by the Magi. Never mind the fact that all of them were considerably expensive and could be traded for much more practical things in greater quantity, as I had mentioned above, these gifts were not just grandiose baby-shower presents, but they were wrapped in great symbolism, acknowledging just who Jesus was and what Jesus had come to accomplish.

Now, far be it from me to quote a Nineteenth Century hymn as a theological authority, but We Three Kings of Orient Are[5] fairly summarises the meanings behind the gifts, but the verses do not dig in as deep as they could (even the Victorians had their limits). In that hymn, each King or Magus representing each gift states the symbolic purpose of each:

·         Gold, to crown the King born in Bethlehem and pay homage to Him,[6]

·         Frankincense, an offering of prayer to God the Word made flesh,[7]

·         Myrrh, a resin both for incense and embalming, foreshadowing His Death.[8]

These are fine as far as they go, stuffed into a short carol trying to lift a weighty exegesis in five short verses and a catchy refrain. However, if you wondered whether there was more to the gifts, earlier commentary does not disappoint. In the late Sixth Century, St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Bishop of Rome and Patriarch of the West, preached a sermon on this very topic. St. Gregory’s exegesis not only points out that gold is a fit gift for a king, but that it symbolises the treasure of wisdom, and in this case, the wisdom of discerning the Kingship of Jesus as Lord and Master of all. He goes on to acknowledge the role frankincense plays in worship of the divine, but he further expounds that we who approach the Lord do so in fervent prayer, as shown in the words of Psalm 141, “Let my prayer be set forth in Your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”[9] Finally, in reviewing the role myrrh plays in funerary preparation to stave off the worst effects of decay, he makes note that this also symbolises the restraint of the passions, the putting to death the old nature, and stopping Corruption in its tracks, and even reversing it, by the adoption of the new nature provided by Our Lord.[10]

Definitely a lot of meaning packed into gifts that the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph likely later had to pawn.

If we look at this critically, however, with the theme of God’s Manifestation to the Gentiles firmly in mind, we see that this particular event signifies the critical fact that the God of Israel not only came in the Flesh to dwell among us, but that He has made Himself known not only to Israel, God’s chosen people, but also to the Nations, people who until this moment have sojourned on this Earth in the Darkness of Separation from the Light of God. The gifts the Magi offer then signify more than just rich presents and bestowal of honour, but the acknowledgement by the Nations that wisdom’s treasures have led us not only to our King but our Deliverer, that He accepts our prayers and praises, and that He has taken on Himself the burden of delivering us all, Jew and Gentile, from Death and Corruption. This is a God who is not only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel but the lost sheep of the Nations, first shown to the Magi, then by the witness of the Blessed Mother and the Holy Apostles to us also.

Twelve days ago, we heard the marvellous news that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Today, we hear the marvellous news that He did so not only for His old covenant community but for all of us. How shall we respond? Will we, like Herod, stick our heads in the sand and read it all wrong, or will we, like the Magi, offer up our gold, frankincense, and myrrh? Will we seek, like Herod, to purge Him from our midst, or will we, like the Magi, offer Him our allegiance, our worship, and ourselves, putting off the old nature and putting on the new nature of Christ?

So let us bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh, to receive the King of Kings daily into our lives, to come to His Light and the brightness of His Dawn. Come, let us worship.

✠ Through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, Holy Dominic, and all the saints, Saviour save us. Amen.

[1] Is. 60.1-3

[2] The readings are found here: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/epiphany/

[3] For a summary description of the development of the Feast, please check online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(holiday)

[4] Those readings may be found here: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/epiphany-1a/

[5] Hopkins, John Henry, Jr., The Hymnal 1982, Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, 1985, 128

[6] Op. cit., verse 2

[7] Op. cit., verse 3

[8] Op. cit., verse 4

[9] Ps. 141.2

[10] Gregory the Great, “Forty Gospel Homilies”, 10.6, Oden, Thomas C., and Simonetti, Manlio, edd., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament 1a (Matthew 1-13), InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2001, pp. 28-29