The three gifts of the wise men

If you were meeting Jesus.......What would your three gifts be.

I love the song 'In The Bleak Midwinter' for the lines...

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

I'd give Him my heart, a touch of His feet, and a flower.

:rolleyes:If I met jesus three things i would give him would be
An invite to meet the queen
some decent clothes
a lecture about why he sacrificed his life
oh and a nice drop of wine!

I would give him;

A hug for dying for us on the cross,
A kiss for saving all those afflicted people
And a slap for those he forgot

Crabapple xx

Oh Crabapple,

How sad your post is! Jesus didn't "forget" anyone! His was the ultimate sacrifice of love.

As Mary Baker Eddy writes:

Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage. His mission was both individual and collective. He did life's work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals,--to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility. (Science & Health p 18)

Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Science in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus' deed was for the enlightenment of men and for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death.

The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge from his foes, a place in which to solve the great problem of being. His three days' work in the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time. He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate. (p 44)

Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness, seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified example introduced. (p 53)

Then, as now Crabapple, he only healed those who came to him - he didn't heal those who stayed at home. Mankind has been given the answers, over and over, but it rejects it and clings to materiality and human will and means.

Oakapple, I feel the greatest gift I can bring, apart from gratitude, is the desire to follow the example he left us all.

Love and peace,

Judy

Sad as it may be, Principled, but often it is how I feel. There are times when I feel that some have been forgotten and it is not their doing!

As a teacher I have come across some things that make me think twice about the fairness of it all, a young lad of 13 who witnessed his Father hanging himself, having just lost his Mother to cancer and then being left to the mercies of his abusive step Mother.

Kids negelcted because their parent(s) are alcoholics, a girl showing me her burns, inflicted by a Grandmother, who was looking after her when her own Mum rejected her. These are almost daily events in one school, sometimes it tests the best of any faiths.

I teach science and Religious education to these kids, and I find the RE the most fulfilling....why.....because most of them so want something to believe in! I taught a year 9 class about Samsara today, having not known anything about beforehand, as I have only just been given this post owing to a lack of RE teachers (I wonder why?). So, I researched on the internet, wrote out on four sheets about different aspects of it, and handed it out to the pupils, in pairs. They read it, avidly, related back to the class the key points and then summarised....and how did it end, with a mass meditation.....cool eh?! It is such a shame that these pupils, who soak up this sort of knowledge, and want to learn about different faiths, can be so dispondent.

Maybe a slap is rather sad, just the question...why...would do!

Hope this helps you understand where I am coming from, Judy.

Love

Crabapple xx

The question of "why" is a deep one. Some of us, to quote a friend of mine, landed here on earth in this life "with a bump". Most of us can attest that it isn't always easy. Nevertheless it's all about free will, our individual human free will. I do know that when people in this and that place around the world are in pain and trouble, this may seem just to be words. Nevertheless, at the core of it all, any problems within human lives are at root caused by the misuse of free will.

Obviously in the case of those born into problems, we have to consider past lives. That, it seems, is not yet a PC attitude to take. The past England foorball manager, Glenn Hoddle, lost his job through saying such! So it's not a popular message or a popular truth. IMHO it's true all the same. Problems (karma) are not unfair and are not punishment, but are carefully chosen lessons people need to learn from. And God or Jesus are not to blame: God gave us the gift of free will, and now it's up to us how to use that gift. Obviously there have been some mistakes by us along the way, and the loving gift of karma which teaches us eventually returns, albeit it can be a desperate time as it happens.

On to the original post, now. I've always viewed the three gifts of the three wise men as being symbolic (as well as real) of the trinity of essential spiritual qualities: Wisdom, Love, and Will. I didn't try to figure yet which is which. 🙂

Likewise, I'll have to revisit the Bible sometime. Without doing so at the moment, I'm just wondering if the visit by the three wise men and then the three kings are two separate events, or just the same one event confused and told in two ways? I'm sure it's clearer there in the New Testament. 😮

V

Good post Venetian,

I'm sure the 3 were the same, but just about to go to work, so can't look up anything right now!

To me the gift of free will is the will of God, which is always good - it gives us the freedom that is divine and holy and brings harmony only.

Dear Crabapple,

What a wonderful, caring post, bless you! I just knew that those comments were coming from the world’s general misunderstanding of what really IS. You remind me of Mary Baker Eddy who described herself as “..a heart wholly in protest and unutterable in love.” and stated that her mission to bring the healing, redeeming and liberating truth of God that had been revealed to her, was “for all the earth….” She wrote “All my efforts, all my prayers and tears are for humanity and the spread of peace and love among mankind.”

How fortunate those kids are Crabapple to have someone as caring and spiritual as you are to teach them. You can really make a difference in their lives.

Our present sense of material life is certainly not fair, but to blame God, Spirit, Love, for all the suffering and evil thinking of humanity is like blaming the sun for darkness, blaming heat for the cold and goodness for evil. It’s like blaming the principle of mathematics for mistakes. The answers exist, they’ve been shown and proved over and over to the world by many individuals who have glimpsed the truth of Being and have walked in the light, the greatest of which was Jesus, because he proved irrefutably there are spiritual laws that overcome every single conceivable material limitation and suffering. Mary Baker Eddy rediscovered these laws, but then, as now, the deeper meaning of Life and Truth was ignored, persecuted. Enraged mortal thought tried to kill Jesus to stop his teaching and when that didn’t work, his teachings were watered down and ritualized, only his words were considered, not his works and the sense of an anthropomorphic god continues.

Eddy writes:

If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infinite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible. Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle, Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely physical, and are ignorant of man as God's image or reflection and of man's eternal incorporeal existence. (Science and Health 13)

A wonderful example of seeing how all things truly are possible is this little experience below, which I’ve shared before, but which never ceases to teach me new lessons (the quotes from the article are coloured):

This writer’s glimpse of spiritual reality and the changes it brought to the life of a little urchin shows how our perceptions of others need to be brought into line with the divine and how a changed state of consciousness through spiritual discernment brings dramatic improvement to the whole situation.

The writer was living in a country in the Near East where she found the poverty quite overwhelming. It was everywhere and the suffering and hopelessness of the situation seemed so immense that she felt humanly helpless, even though she tried to assist in her own way.

There was a young boy who often followed her on the streets. He had lovely brown eyes and a quick warm smile, but he presented a picture of lack and indescribable dirtiness. In his few words of English he would keep asking her “Houseboy?” but she was unable to respond in his language and to tell him that in his condition no one would give him work.

One day, as she gave him a few coins, “aware of their inadequacy to touch his real need”, these lines from Science and Health came into her thought:

“Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal
man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.”(S&H p 476)

It came to her that Jesus must have come across many people much like this young lad (after all, this was the same area of the world) She began to consider what Jesus would have done about this situation, how he would have thought.

“Surely he did not stand helpless, offering a few coins, mentally listing the human things that needed correction and searching for a means of communicating the truth. Instead, he turned completely from the picture before him and spiritually beheld man as he is, in all his beauty and cleanliness and health............”

“And suddenly there was light. There was nothing but light - the light of spiritual reality. So bright was the light that she was no longer aware of the boy or the place; she was not aware of saying goodbye or walking away from him. She was aware only of God's presence and of His spiritual, perfect universe.”

For a few days, she forgot all about the lad and then, when she next saw him, she was amazed. The sores that had been on his face were gone and everything looked new and clean. Clean clothes, body, teeth, hair.

“In her delight she exclaimed excitedly over his changed appearance and pointed to his clothes. “New!”
“No new,” he said. “Wash.”
The words came out: “Who? Who told you to do these things?” It took him a moment to answer: “No man. No man tell.” Then, still searching for words, he looked upward, his gaze slowly following a great semicircle above. Then suddenly, joyously, he explained, “I” - and he pointed , not to himself, but upward - “I! I tell me.”

The young lad had been touched by the woman’s changed perspective and the Christ-consciousness communed directly with him too. He had then found dignity and value right where he was. Shortly after that, he found work with a French family and afterwards always appeared healthy and radiantly happy, even becoming a man of possession and acquiring a bicycle! This experience also helped the writer who discovered that she had a changed attitude towards the entire country she was living in. Instead of looking out on a scene of hopelessness, she kept her thought firmly fixed on the spiritual reality. She writes:

Habakkuk says of God (1:13), “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.” Since God cannot behold evil, can the man of God do so? We must see what God sees and not be overwhelmed by the apparent human situation. We should no more take our lists of human problems to God for correction than we would take a list of the dark corners of a room to the electric power. Light knows only light. All we need to do to the darkened room is to turn on the electric light. What we need to do to the darkened consciousness is to make apparent the light of Truth. All we need to ask for is spiritual discernment. Through spiritual discernment we behold the perfect man and perfect creation. And this beholding appears outwardly as healing.”
(From “Spiritual Discernment” by V L Ingraham Christian Science Journal Jan 1954)

In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as "a very present help in trouble." Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." (Science and Health p 12)

And here are some links to articles on the same theme from

[url]When life seems unfair, spirituality provides a new view[/url]

[url]Trading poverty for perfection, one life at a time[/url]

[url] God's love: the solution to poverty[/url]

Love and peace,

Judy

Well, a chance today to do some research!

Venetian,

Matthew 2 (King James Version)

1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Matthew 2 (New International Version - UK)
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

2 and asked, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

Here below are mixed-up excerpts from two articles - links below. It has only been assumed that there were 3 wise men because there were 3 gifts! That is proof of how people believe something is in the Bible, (or Koran), but actually, it's simply tradition that has become fixed in our consiousness.

The term “magi” has several distinct uses. It can designate a Persian priestly caste called the Magians, followers of Zoroaster. In this instance, however, most scholars favor the use of the term as meaning “astrologers”, as it was their observation of the stars that prompted their journey.

Matthew tells us that the visitors celebrated the Christ child with the most valuable items in the ancient world: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

It is on the basis of these gifts that legend has grown up around the magi. Because there were three gifts, legend has it that there were three magi. Legend has also given them exotic names and homelands: Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar … who are said to hail from Persia, Arabia and Ethiopia.

Wise men, Gr. magoi, which designated men of the various educated classes. Our word "magicians" comes from this root. But these "wise men" were not magicians in the modern sense of sleight-of-hand performers. They were of noble birth, educated, wealthy, and influential. They were the philosophers, the counselors of the realm, learned in all the wisdom of the ancient East. The "wise men" who came seeking the Christ-child were not idolaters; they were upright men of integrity (Desire of Ages, pages 59,61).

: : They studied the Hebrew Scriptures and there found a clearer transcript of truth. In particular, the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament claimed their attention, and among these they found the words of Balaam: "There shall come a Star out of Jacob," (Numbers 24:17). They probably also knew and understood the time prophecy of Daniel (Daniel 9:25,26), and came to the conclusion that the Messiah's coming was near. (See Desire of Ages, pages 61 & 62.)

The first gift, gold, seems a startling present to introduce into the crude surroundings in which the child is born. Symbolically, gold is an emblem of royalty. The gift of gold, therefore, signifies Jesus’ so-called kingship over all the earth.

The second gift, frankincense, is an aromatic gum resin, obtained from Asian trees of the genus Boswallia. Frankincense was used in the holy anointing oil with which priests were consecrated. Pure frankincense was poured upon the sacramental bread of the Temple. As gold was the emblem of royalty, frankincense was the emblem of divinity.

The third of the magi bears the bitter gift of myrrh. His is a prophetic gift, a gift which alludes to the persecution, suffering and death that awaits the child

Myrrh, mingled with wine, was given to Jesus has he hung on the cross to help deaden the excruciating pain of crucifixion. Myrrh was among the ingredients used by the women who anointed Jesus’ body for burial.

Love and peace,
Judy

So even their names - Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar - are not in the Bible? If so, that's astonishing. It can be taken two ways. Most rational people will accept that it's a bit of a myth then, that there were only three, and these were their names. Me, I find it hard. 🙂 I'm wondering if there were indeed only three, but with attendants? And who knows, maybe their names have come to us through some form of intuitive or inspired process. But we'll have to be open-minded on that.

If we accept the 'Jesus story' as academics call it, and I do, then the basic root of this part is still, to me, that three Magi were involved. And so the "three kings" were not kings, but mages and astrologers?

V

Silly me - I meant to say - there were no three kings - that's just a song! 🙂

I find it interesting that they may have been Zoarastrians too. One web site I looked at even suggested they may have been women - but you know what, because of the strictures on women in those days (and now in those countries!) I find that wishful thinking by some feminists!

I sort of feel that 3 gifts would point to three main characters too.

Love and peace,

Judy

In India it is quite common for greatly revered holy men (wise men) to be called 'Maharaj', or Great King.

Also...

The story of the three wise men 'from the east' always puts me in mind of Tibetan Buddhist search parties tracking down the incarnations of great souls.

It is recorded that Jesus was known of in India before the first Christian missionaries arrived there.

Silly me - I meant to say - there were no three kings - that's just a song! 🙂

So the song we sang at primary school was nonesense? Thank goodness we young guys put our own slant on it anyway, as we sang:

We three kings of Orient are
One in a taxi, one in a car,
One on a scooter, blowing his hooter ...

It is recorded that Jesus was known of in India before the first Christian missionaries arrived there.

Yes, from the Himis gospel discovered in the 1800s by Nicholas Notovitch, and from the mission of Thomas to India. (But all that came after Jesus' life, not before.)

I intuitively like and somewhat trust "The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ" by Levi, written in the 1800s. You come across the same belief from many sources actually - that Jesus and the Masters planned his life and mission for decades before he was actually born. There was even one stage, it's said, when it had been decided that a Christ would be born, but the candidate hadn't been chosen, who in the end was Jesus.

So in that Gospel (read from Akasha, says Levi), and other sources, the three magi somewhat were born expecting the Christ to come, and their mission was to find him. But it wasn't easy and the travel from far away wasn't easy either. Having been incarnated, the Magi had much of the forgetfulness we all have, not totally recalling inner plane training. So it was no mean feat to remember, and to actually find the Christ, and avoid the dangers of travel along the way.

V

Yes, from the Himis gospel discovered in the 1800s by Nicholas Notovitch, and from the mission of Thomas to India. (But all that came after Jesus' life, not before.)

I had these in mind, but I was thinking more generally about the intriguing and convincing connections between Jesus and India. If Jesus did spend time India between the ages of 13 and 30, then perhaps he was retracing the steps of the wise men from the east.

Barafundle,

I agree. Jesus IMHO was East of the Holy Land for most of his life, until age 29 or 30. He won't have gone East with no contacts IMHO: the three Magi and others will have remained in touch, and he'll have had specific contacts to journey to, meet, and stay with (and co-learn from). Much of this is in the Himis gospel, and more in the Levi (akashic) 'gospel'. And he'll have gone East initially with a caravan, aged only about 12-13 then (all modern caravan jokes aside!), as that was the traditional way to journey safely.

V