Of Myrrh

We usually  think that the only time Jesus was offered myrrh was when the magi came to visit the Christ child. The reality is that Jesus  was offered myrrh several times in his life and in his death. The other interesting discovery is the people who offered it to him. Almost always, it was the outsider, the most unlikely person.

Listen not only to the occasions when Jesus is offered myrrh but by whom.

In Mark's account of the crucifixion we read this “Then the soldier offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.” So it is Roman soldier, a man of no apparent faith and an accessory to Jesus death that offers Him myrrh.

And then later on when God himself is a corpse, myrrh will be brought to the body of Lord Jesus by a secret disciple.

Here’s the story“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.”

And again, by some very different people.

They are the very courageous women who come under cover of the early morning darkness to what they think is a heavily guarded tomb. But they do not know that the guards have run away in fear before they set out. For the women it is a very gutsy little journey.  Here’s how Luke records this adventure. “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb”. These would not have been cheap myrrh and spices so there is a severe financial cost to them, as well as the uncertainty of their lives. Our brothers and sisters in the Eastern Church call them Holy Myrrh- Bearing Women – because the Gospels tell us they risked danger, untold grief and the unknown in order to take expensive spices and oils from their own stores to anoint the Saviour’s lifeless body. The Holy Myrrh-Bearers are made up of women of different ages, vocations and histories; they were disciples of Christ, and they were probably drawn by concrete encounters of Jesus while he was still alive. You don’t go to a tomb and put your life at risk for a perfect stranger.  They drew strength, healing and inspiration from Christ when he was alive and their discipleship has a quality which some called “feminine genius”.

Interesting isn’t it, that all sorts of people from all sorts of lives are unknowingly united in bringing this one gift to the Lord. For a gold star you might like to reflect on the unlikely outsider who has brought you myrrh. The person who had to tell you some sad news perhaps. Or was it the person who was with you when you found yourself receiving myrrh? Our Christian faith, what we teach, what we believe what we offer to the world, must embrace and make holy every experience and emotion of our human life. And in these knotty times perhaps this symbolic gift of myrrh speaks more clearly and resounds more loudly than ever before. We must be able to say to our community that your suffering is authentic and real. Your experience of myrrh is an important part of the whole gamut of what it is to be human. From infancy, to the cross, to the grave, Our Lord accepts his myrrh, and He accepts our myrrh life experiences as well. He opens wide his arms to embrace and sanctify our myrrh.

We learn that his suffering, his myrrh, his tears are in fact ours. He is already there with us when myrrh comes our way.It’s really easy and it is understandable to always want the glitzy gold and frankincense, but as the good book reminds us if we take joy from the hand of the Lord, must we not also take sorrow too.Heavenly Father, the Magi came on bended knee to adore your Son and offer their gifts. Implant deep within us that same sense of mystery and awe for all your generous gifts to us.

So fill our hearts with your love that we may come one day and see what they saw, the face of your beloved Son, even Jesus Christ our Lord Amen