Title: The Gifts We Bring (2)
Series: The Journey Of Christmas
Author: Jeff Strite
Text: Matthew 2:9-11
Humorist Dave Barry wrote about the gifts that were brought by the Wise Men. He suggested that if you examined that story carefully, you'd find that there is an overlooked theological fact in the story. There is no mention of wrapping paper. Why? First, these guys were wise. And second... they were men. When it comes to wrapping gifts, it seems men lack the necessary skills in this area. You can always tell which gifts under the tree were wrapped by men.
Fifty percent of all the paper consumed in the U.S is used for gift wrapping and decoration. And with regard to gift wrapping - each year people buy an estimated 8,000 tons of wrapping paper. And Christmas wrap sales exceed $2.6 billion every year. (Ken Trivette) Now that's a lot of money to spend on wrapping paper - paper whose only purpose is to hide the gifts within.
In Matthew 2:11 we're told "And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh." There's a strong possibility that these THREE gifts were what helped Mary and Joseph to support themselves when they fled to Egypt to escape from King Herod (PAUSE) but, while these gifts were very expensive and were very helpful, I suspect that each of those gifts was more like wrapping paper. Beautiful on the outside, but inside - there was something valuable hidden!
First - consider the GOLD. Gold has always seemed to be an expensive gift. On today's market, the cost of gold is little over $2000 an ounce. That would add up to $32,000 per pound. That's a lot of money. In the Middle East, gold was principally reserved for Royalty because they were pretty much only ones who could afford the stuff. The pharaohs of Egypt insisted on being buried in gold. King Tut - was enshrined in three gold coffins - the third a ...
Series: The Journey Of Christmas
Author: Jeff Strite
Text: Matthew 2:9-11
Humorist Dave Barry wrote about the gifts that were brought by the Wise Men. He suggested that if you examined that story carefully, you'd find that there is an overlooked theological fact in the story. There is no mention of wrapping paper. Why? First, these guys were wise. And second... they were men. When it comes to wrapping gifts, it seems men lack the necessary skills in this area. You can always tell which gifts under the tree were wrapped by men.
Fifty percent of all the paper consumed in the U.S is used for gift wrapping and decoration. And with regard to gift wrapping - each year people buy an estimated 8,000 tons of wrapping paper. And Christmas wrap sales exceed $2.6 billion every year. (Ken Trivette) Now that's a lot of money to spend on wrapping paper - paper whose only purpose is to hide the gifts within.
In Matthew 2:11 we're told "And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh." There's a strong possibility that these THREE gifts were what helped Mary and Joseph to support themselves when they fled to Egypt to escape from King Herod (PAUSE) but, while these gifts were very expensive and were very helpful, I suspect that each of those gifts was more like wrapping paper. Beautiful on the outside, but inside - there was something valuable hidden!
First - consider the GOLD. Gold has always seemed to be an expensive gift. On today's market, the cost of gold is little over $2000 an ounce. That would add up to $32,000 per pound. That's a lot of money. In the Middle East, gold was principally reserved for Royalty because they were pretty much only ones who could afford the stuff. The pharaohs of Egypt insisted on being buried in gold. King Tut - was enshrined in three gold coffins - the third a ...
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