The Gift of Myrrh

Why would you give a child a spice used for embalming the dead? It foreshadowed the role Jesus would have in his life and death. (Isaiah 53)

Transcript

THE GIFT OF MYRRH

Why would you give a baby oil that was meant for embalming the dead? But that’s what the wise men did when they presented Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus with myrrh. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Myrrh seems like a pretty strange gift.

Have you ever gotten a strange gift? Growing up, my dad was a lawyer, so he would regularly get Christmas gifts from his clients.

• We always had a couple of tubs of three-flavored popcorn around the house.

• The avocado rancher would send us a box of his best avocados.

• And there was always an assortment of fancy meats and cheeses in the kitchen.

December was very yummy around the Rhodes’ household growing up.

But then, there were occasionally strange gifts. And without a doubt, the strangest one we ever received was this—two live pheasants. I kid you not! Now, if this were a Hmong household, y’all know they would have been dinner. But a bunch of sheltered white people… We had no idea what to do. We simply stood around this box dumbfounded, jumping every time the box shook. After about 15 minutes, we just let them go. What else were we going to do?

Well, sometimes gifts are strange. And then there’s myrrh. One of its common uses was embalming the dead. In fact, Scripture says they used it on Jesus after he was crucified to prepare him for burial.

Now, myrrh had other uses, too. Women commonly used it as perfume because it was very aromatic. That’s why it was also good for the dead. So, guys, if you’re looking for a gift for that special lady in your life that says, “You smell like death,” get her some myrrh.

JESUS AS OUR SUFFERING SERVANT

What do we make of myrrh? Last week, we talked about how frankincense foreshadowed Jesus' role as our High Priest, the link between humans and God. This week, we’re talking about myrrh, and most scholars agree that it foreshadows Jesus’ suffering because of its connections to death.

Nowhere in Scripture is this described more poignantly than the prophetic words of Isaiah 53, often called the Suffering Servant passage. Seven hundred years before Jesus was born in a manger, the prophet Isaiah wrote his book.

Isaiah has four chapters dedicated to this “Servant,” all of which are clear descriptions of the promised Messiah, the one who would save God’s people.

While there are four chapters about the Suffering Servant Messiah, chapter 53 is the most important. Why? Because most writers of the New Testament refer to this chapter at some point when talking about Jesus. Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, and Peter all apply this chapter directly to Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the promised Messiah who is also be a Suffering Servant.

We’re going to read the whole chapter and then focus in on a few parts. I want you to listen for Jesus in this… because he’s everywhere.

Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people, he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.”

That is our Jesus, our Suffering Servant. That is the baby in a manger that received myrrh as a gift.

Did you notice the verbs in this passage?

• Despised

• Rejected

• Punished

• Stricken

• Pierced

• Crushed

• Oppressed

• Afflicted

• Cut off

That is our Jesus, our Suffering Servant. That is the baby in a manger that received myrrh as a gift.

How did Jesus do it? How was Jesus so good at enduring suffering? And more importantly, why are we so bad at it?

The answer can be found in… the humble sheep. Did you notice that this passage has two sheep descriptions in it—one about Jesus and one about us.

So, let’s start with a basic tutorial on sheep. Everything you need to know about sheep can be found in this viral video.

Sheep are not bright creatures. That’s what makes the sheep references in this chapter all the more intriguing.

Let’s start with what it says about Jesus. In verse 7, it reads, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

If you know anything about the Easter story, this is a very accurate description of what Jesus did. He didn’t protest, argue, or fight back. Despite the injustice of it all, he didn’t do any of that. He knew who he was and why he was there. He knew God’s will for himself—to make his life an offering for sin—and he obeyed faithfully. He wasn’t a victim or even a martyr. He was a willing participant. That was Jesus as a sheep.

Now, let’s contrast that with the chapter’s description of us as sheep. In the verse immediately before this one, it says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. “

While Jesus perfectly obeyed, we do not. We go our own way. We do our own thing. We disobey God constantly. We go astray.

And then, to make matters worse, all of our turning away got turned on Jesus.

• He took up our pain

• Bore our suffering

• He was pierced for our transgressions

• Crushed for our iniquities

When the baby Jesus received myrrh as a gift, it foreshadowed not just his suffering and death but his obedience in suffering to death.

SUFFERING IN OUR LIVES

Now, if that were the end, it would make a pretty good Christmas story. Baby Jesus was born to save us. We’re guilty, but adult Jesus paid our punishment on the cross. He suffered tremendously, but the benefit was worth it. That could be the end of the story, but it’s not.

Once when Jesus was explaining to his disciples that he was going to suffer, die, and be resurrected, he told them, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

Jesus calls us not just to benefit from the work of the Suffering Servant but to become a Suffering Servant with him. He doesn’t just want you to give the myrrh; he wants you to receive it.

But there’s a problem with that calling—nothing in our world today tells us that we should suffer.

• Your parents will try to solve if for you, and, if they’re Christian, will tell you to pray about it.

• Your friends might tell us to dump him or get a new job or go out drinking.

• Psychology will tell you to live your true self and don’t cling to a false identity.

• Instagram will tell you that you should practice self-care or cut-off toxic people.

But there’s one piece of advice I never hear given: welcome suffering. But that’s exactly what the New Testament says. 1 Peter 4:13 reads, “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

And this idea is repeated in Romans 5:3, 8:17, 12:12, Philippians 3:10, Colossians 1:24, and so on and so on.

Jesus Christ suffered and died to make right our wrongs. And when we accept his offering on our behalf, he becomes our Suffering Servant, and in turn, we become his Suffering Servants.

We all want the Suffering Servant, but none of us want to suffer ourselves.

Now, let me make one thing clear. The Bible never tells us to seek out suffering or, worse, create it. But God’s Word promises that we will encounter it. And rather than avoiding it, denying it, or deflecting it, Jesus invites us to participate with him in it.

CLOSING

The way of the cross is a way of suffering. But so is the way of the manger. The manger and the cross were made of the same wood. The gift of myrrh reminds us of that. It reminds us that Jesus was born to bring us life through death, salvation through suffering. It reminds us to give Jesus our gift of myrrh as our Suffering Servant, and when the time comes, to receive our gift of myrrh and suffer alongside him.