Is Jesus King of this World?

 Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

They offered gold, as for a king; frankincense, because they recognized Him as God; myrrh, because, despite being the immortal God, as a man He was going to die.

1. They offered frankincense, because Jesus is God.

For some people there is no problem in saying that Jesus is God, because God, for them, is “up there” in heaven and does not bother too much with the earth and how things are going here. Religion, for them, is an escape from reality, like something you want to think about when things on earth become too hard. Religion, for them, is about “God,” about something “spiritual,” about something so tenuous that cannot touch the hard reality of matter and the world. That God, they think, might be called King of Heaven, but He does not rule on earth and does not rule in our lives. From Heaven, God has sent his commandments, but here on earth there is no law enforcement for those commandments.

2. However, to this God, the Magi offered myrrh.

Some people, as we were saying, think that God is too far, too spiritual… Perhaps for this reason the Lord of Heaven took on flesh and appeared on earth, so that we could touch, be touched and be nailed to a cross. The God of Heaven is now God with us, Emmanuel, one who knows about bad weather, and about danger and persecution, and about hunger and thirst, and about hatred, sadness, extreme suffering and death.

3. The Magi offered also gold, as for a King.

Jesus came to rule on earth. He came to establish His Kingdom on earth and to conquer His enemies by His words and by His love, not yet by His power. Jesus did not come to exact taxes or to punish criminals, but to require obedience from the heart. He wants to be loved, and all His commandments are summarized in love. He commands love of God to the point of despising your own life for His laws, and love of neighbour as you love yourself.

He is a King of love, but not because love is easy. He conquered our love by showing His own love, by dying on a cross for our sins, by offering forgiveness to the sinner and by promising Heaven to those who follow Him to the end. Love was not easy for Him. And that love is what He wants in return. He did not want a kingdom of slaves but a kingdom of children. He wants to be followed by love, not by law enforcement. He wants to be loved as a friend, in good and in bad. He wants to be the King of our hearts, not of our bodies only.

4. Is He not King of those who do evil? He is a good, merciful King. He gives evil people time to repent before He comes back. We ourselves would probably not be here if He were not merciful. But when He comes back, the time of patience will end and justice will come. Until then, the King gives His followers the strength to overcome evil with courage, patience and love, even to the point of praying for their enemies. This King provides us with everything we need to lead a truly happy life on earth, even among trials, and to inherit an eternal perfect life in Heaven.

-- Gold, frankincense and myrrh. He is truly God, He truly died for our sins, and He came to be the King of our hearts. Now is the time to bend the knee of our own accord. One day, every knee shall bend, whether they want it or not. But if now we obey Him of our own free will… He will not simply reward us with something: He will give us His Kingdom. The secret here is to realize that Jesus is not simply our King: by making us God’s children, He made us co-heirs with Him of God’s Kingdom. If we are good children, His Kingdom is ours.

Let us allow Jesus to be King in our hearts, in our daily lives, in our families and in our everyday activities. May Jesus be the King of our relationships and of our conversations, the King of our studies and of our work, the King of our thoughts, our words and our actions.

The Magi gave Him gold, a gold Jesus does not need any more. What Jesus wants is obedience, but obedience out of love. There is the obedience for fear of going to jail: this would be like bronze. Silver is obedience for fear of hell: at least it will keep you straight. The gold that Jesus wants from us is obedience out of love, for fear of not loving Him enough, for fear of offending such great love.