In a bible study we had last month, some were surprised to learn that even though we have 3 kings in our manger scenes, the bible never tells us how many kings went to visit & to worship the Christ Child. It just says, “wise men from the east arrived one day in Jerusalem.” So where did we get the idea there were 3 of them? Because it does tell us that there were three gifts: gold, frankincense & myrrh. But couldn’t one king have brought 3 gifts, or several kings brought none?
Is it really important to know how many kings there were? Perhaps not. St. Matthew wrote a theology book, not a history book. But it’s good that we presume that each king had a gift to bring because in our Christian faith, we believe that everyone has a gift to give. We don’t come to worship Jesus empty handed.
Everyone God has created is a gifted person. Even those we don’t like or find it hard to get along with have a gift to give us. And we have one for them too. Don’t keep your gift wrapped up throughout the year. Open it, appreciate it, use it. That is our gift to God.