Alright, we’ll come back to Alan Watts a little bit later. For now, I want to dive into our text from Matthew. Last week we started the story of the magi or wisemen. This week we finished that story with what are arguably the most memorable objects in the entire narrative of Jesus’ birth. Their treasure chests containing three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Now, I’m sure all of your are quite familiar with these three gifts from the magi to Jesus. What you may not be familiar with is why he is given these three gifts in particular. As you might be able to guess, they have symbolic meaning. The one that is the most obvious is gold. It was common for kings to be given gold, a symbol of wealth that would accompany his rule. As the most valuable precious metal in the ancient world, the more gold a king has access to, the more powerful his rule.

For example, when King David and King Solomon ruled over Israel, the Bible tells us they had extraordinary amounts of gold at their disposal. So much so that Solomon actually made shields inlaid with gold. The Bible describes how their wealth enabled them to create lavish palaces, ornate temples and, of course, gave them the capacity to have strong armies to defend their territories.

The second gift is frankincense, which is a hardened gum-like material (resin) that comes from the trunk of the Boswellia tree. People use its oil on skin and in aromatherapy today, but back in Jesus’ time, frankincense was used as incense during religious ceremonies. Similar to the pillar of cloud discussed last week, it was thought to invoke God’s spirit. Thus, the idea of frankincense is to invoke God’s presence during Jesus’ reign as king.

If we return to King David and King Solomon, the Bible tells us that what made their rule so successful was that they were in touch with God. The more God favored them, the more effective they were in ruling their nation. However, with Jesus, the frankincense has a slightly different connotation. Whereas the traditional Jewish messiah was expected to be a political figure, Jesus’ messiahship would be defined by him starting a religious movement. Indeed, Jesus’ following God would lead him to be crucified, which is what the last gift is about.

Myrrh is an embalming oil and a symbol of death. Indeed, this gift foreshadows what will happen to Jesus later when he is crucified and laid in a tomb. From the moment of his birth, Jesus is being prepared for death. This idea might feel morbid, but rather than be a king whose rule is defined by exerting power over people, Jesus’ rule will be defined by how he exerts power over death.

What I love about these gifts is that they subtly set the stage for how the rest of Jesus’ story in the gospel will playout. And yet, as much as we associate these three gifts as being uniquely tied to Jesus’ story, all three of these items define our existence as well. Think about it. We are all driven by the need for money, the need for God and the ticking clock where one day our lives will end. In fact, when you place these three items in context, what you realize is how we need to balance these three things in order to live a life full of meaning and purpose.

Therefore, I want to spend the rest of the sermon talking about these three gifts and how they impact all of our lives. Let’s begin with the first gift of gold. It goes without saying that money is what makes the world go round. I find money to be one of the most fascinating aspects of human society. Humans (Homo sapiens) have been around for nearly 200,000 years, but it is only in the last 12,000 years that our society has become sophisticated enough to warrant a system of trade.

It seems that the human species began to recognize that there is not an infinite amount of resources available to us. If you take something for yourself, that means there’s less available for me. Humans needed a way to keep track of credits and debits so that you don’t take more than your fair share. First, it began with a barter system comprised mostly of trading wheat and cattle; then it slowly started to incorporate rare earth metals like gold, silver and copper. However, what we know today as money, coins that can be used as legal tender, did not emerge until around 700 B.C.

The Chinese were the first to use the concept of coins, but the idea quickly caught on and became universal. Sadly, from the moment we adopted money as means of executing trade it has mediated everything in our world. Money is the difference between those who can take care of their needs and those who struggle in poverty. So, as humans, because of this system we have created for ourselves, we are very dependent upon money for our survival.

As a result, many people see the accumulation of money as the end-all/be-all in life. If I have money, then I never have to worry about my food, shelter and clothing. Of course, what Jesus tells us through the story of the rich man is that this security we place in our money is an illusion. In this story, the rich ruler poses a question to Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Although this question might sound sincere, it is not. The rich ruler assumes that since he is wealthy, God loves him more than those who are poor and living in poverty. Therefore, the rich man is simply looking for confirmation from Jesus of what he already believes to be true—I am blessed and chosen by God.

But Jesus does not provide this confirmation. He tells the rich man, “You know what to do, follow the Ten Commandments.” So Jesus names a few, “You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.” The rich man, feeling justified, says to Jesus, “Yeah, I’ve done all those things.” But Jesus intentionally leaves one commandment out of the mix – he forgets to mention the commandment not to covet.

To covet means that you see what someone else has and you desire it for yourself. So Jesus says, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The rich man was quite saddened by this statement because, in his mind, his wealth was a reflection of how much God loved him; but Jesus is now telling him that his wealth is a stumbling block, preventing him from really knowing God’s love.

Jesus then turns to his disciples and utters one of the most challenging statements in the entire Bible: “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Jesus even says that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” This idea completely upends the normal order of things and it has defined Jesus’ movement ever since. It’s not how much money you possess that makes you a good person. It’s how much money you give away in the service of others that truly matters.

Now, in order for us to adopt this attitude towards money, we need to be in touch with God. Our normal, natural state, when we are not in touch with God, will cause us to worship money and depend on that money for our wellbeing in life. Whereas, when you are in touch with God, you are much more likely to adopt Jesus’ teachings allowing you to see your money as tool, not to help yourself, but others.

This is how the frankincense relates to our lives. As I said earlier, frankincense was used in worship services. The smoke and smell is very much connected with the worship of God. Therefore, every time they smelled frankincense in the ancient world, they would think of God. Even though we don’t burn frankincense, the question this raises for you is how often are you thinking of God in your life?

The more often you’re burning the frankincense, the more often you’re thinking of God and the more likely you are to let go of money as being the end-all of your life goal. The less you’re thinking of God, the more you’re going to look to worship money as your salvation. The reason why this matters is because of the last gift of myrrh—the reminder that all of us are born to die.

The question becomes: when you get to the end of your life, will you have spent all of your time seeking after money or will you have spent your time focusing on the things that will bring meaning and purpose to your life, which brings us back to the words we heard earlier from Alan Watts. In his dialogue, Watts discusses how the concept of life being a journey is actually a very destructive idea. The reason why is because you’re going from point A to point B to point C and all along we are told that when we arrive at this very specific point it will make life worthwhile.

Of course, a lot of this goal seeking revolves around money, which in our modern world is baked into our careers. The goal is to move higher and higher up in a company so that you can make more and more money. As Alan Watts says, you get into whatever career—selling insurance, being a pastor, a banker, etc.—and eventually you ascend the ladder to the very top and you think, “Well, I’ve made it. I did what they told me to do. I’ve reached the pinnacle of the life that was laid out before me.”

But as many of you know, when you reach those destinations, you don’t necessarily feel like anything has significantly changed. Sure, you’ve accomplished a goal, but it’s not as life altering as you anticipated. It’s not like everything all of a sudden makes sense in a completely new way. When I was 33 and I started here, I thought that would happen.

Most pastors don’t get a church like this ever and, if they do, it generally comes in their 50s. I thought, “This is it!” But it wasn’t it and so you get it in your mind that perhaps you’ll achieve that shift by accomplishing the next goal or perhaps the next, until there are no more goals to achieve. Then, when you look back on your life, you realize that you were so focused on achieving these goals that you missed everything that mattered.

You see, the problem is that the Western mindset believes that our lives are like stories unfolding before our eyes. And, of course, stories are always moving from one point to the next until the story concludes. But what Alan Watts is trying to tell us is that life isn’t a story so much as a dance. When you dance to music (and I’m not talking about choreographed dance, I’m talking about just moving your body with the rhythm) the point is just to enjoy the music. You’re not thinking about anything else, you’re just present, in the moment, letting the music be a part of you. That’s what life is supposed to be like.

But it’s hard to enjoy the dance when you’re moving from one goal to the next. I used to think to myself, “Everything will be better when I just finish X,” whatever X might be. I would just buckle down and do these projects, sacrificing my time with my family and friends. In fact, when I was with my family and friends, I couldn’t really enjoy my time with them because I was always thinking about what I had to do to accomplish the next project or goal.

One day, I woke up and I realized I was completely missing out on the joy of life. So, I started rearranging my priorities. I setup really specific boundaries. I will work on my projects during this time and then I set them aside and I don’t think about them so I can be present with the people who matter most to me. And the more I spent time enjoying the dance of life, the more I realized how little those goals meant in the grand scheme of things. Now enjoying the dance of life is my top priority.

I’m not saying that you need to go home and literally dance (although you can). I’m saying you need to find your way to dance, to be in the moment where you’re not worried about what comes next; so that you’re just with the people who matter and you’re so present with them that you live into a moment of unity. The great thing is, by taking time to come here on Sunday morning so you can smell the incense, you are reminded of how we need to focus on the dance rather than journey of completing goals.

So as we anticipate Jesus’ birth in our world on Christmas day, let us remember how the gifts given to Jesus are reminders not just of how he is the messiah, but also of how we as his followers are to live our lives. And so as we depart today, I would like you to listen to the words of Alan Watts one last time so that you might be inspired to see life, not as a journey, but as a dance. Amen.