Then opening their treasure, they offered Him gifts.—Matthew 2:11
Love came down at Christmas. The all-knowing only wise God in flesh was born in a stable and for his 33 years on earth never ceased to amaze everyone he met. There have been poems written about his solitary life, songs named for his wonders, and the Holy Scriptures that have recorded His promises. Since the birth of Jesus Christ, there has never been and will never be another man like Him.
When we think of Jesus as a man, there is always the underlying understanding that He was also fully God, but that does not negate the recorded history of his life on earth as Joseph’s son. Skilled in the trade of carpentry, Jesus performed ordinary tasks as He walked out His mission in a home where we are told He had very little honor among His brothers. It was not until post-resurrection that Jesus’ brothers fervently believed in Him as Savior, writing books into the Bible, and eventually martyred in the case of James.
In consideration of His ordinary life, we believe him to be humble in spite of His gifts that resembled cinematic superpowers. Rather than touting His divine identity as some hoity-toity know it all, He exhibited His true heart by holding children, reclining for a meal with friends, and drawing lines in the sand that set sinners free.
From the hill overlooking Jerusalem, on the Tuesday before His death, the would-be man of sorrows Jesus Christ articulated what is commonly known the Parable of the Talents. He issued instructions on making the most of our God-given gifts and skills. We recall the gifts of the Magi as being tangibles brought to the Babe in the manger as well as imagined folklore of a mystical “Little Drummer Boy” who had nothing to give but his song. It is there at the Christmas manger that we can ask ourselves: what do I have to give Him more than my heart?
Today, Christmas is a meeting of secular and sacred in a world that wants material acquisitions to sparkle and shine while making our lives brighter, only to leave man unfulfilled without love. We often learn the hard way that it is better to give than to receive, though the Christ of Christmas gives us eternal life, we give our talents to Him and through Him to others as we discover what it means to be blessed.
The very heart, mind, and hands that he has anointed for his good pleasure, this, we maximize for the Lord, developing both sides of the brain as His workmanship to the benefit of society. Of the world’s foremost geniuses, Albert Einstein was notably said to have strong use of both sides of his brain. In 1919 he debunked Newton’s theories and catapulted to distinction when he completed the general theory of relativity. The T.S. Eliots, Picassos, and Stravinskys of the world were carving pathways of genius in literature, art, and music, but none so much had ever reframed the world as did Einstein who was said to have the corpus callosum of corpus callosums, connecting his right brain to his left therefore opening his mind to higher ways of thinking. He was still found working at his desk until only hours before his death. The phenomenon of Einstein’s talent was so rare that upon his death, pathologist Thomas Harvey harvested and stored his brain for four decades just to study it. Today it remains on display in the The Mütter Museum of medical history.
How ironic that the very father of neurology himself, Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) is also known to have a commanding use of both sides of his brain having been not only a physician, but also a novelist and poet. Over the course of a lifetime, he studied the cerebral epicenter of talent and motivation, even to the influence of an atheist like Freud. But his renown in medicine never prevented him from writing a poem from time to time. He was a learned man, a patron of the arts, and a premier scientist of the rest cure known today as “bed rest.” Like Einstein, his talents were amplified with his dogged effort.
All of these genius men who walked the earth were able to close their eyes in confidence to the Creator that they never buried a talent. Though they were some of the greatest of thinkers, not one of their accomplishments on earth can rival Jesus Christ in His many documented miracles and resurrection. The King of Kings was born into a broken world where wise men offered him lavish gifts. Kings and governors in authority today still write about the many things Jesus said. The disciple Jesus loved, John, wrote that if every one of His works were written down, that even the whole world would not have room enough for the books that would be written.
So what can we give King Jesus at Christmas when He already has our hearts and talents? We can give Him our time. For in spending time in His glorious presence, the image bearers of Jesus reflect His light to a world that is still most certainly broken, but also still completely redeemable by the Prince of Peace even as war brings its terrors. The Star of Bethlehem is still the star of the love that once came down at Christmas.
The Star of Bethlehem:
The Day of Gifts
Brief symbol of God’s greatest gift
Beneath Thy radiance born,
To be for earth eternal light,
The sunshine of an endless morn.
Where art thou now, O virgin star!
That o’er the village stood?
Why chosen for this holy task
From night’s fair sisterhood?
You may be sent to other worlds
And equal errands given,
On gentle embassies of love
With messages from heaven.
Still in our heaven of memory keep
Remembrance of the gifts He gave;
The guiding life, the star of love,
To glow for us beyond the grave.
—Silas Weir Mitchell
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