January 2023 - LPNI

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January 2023

LPNI Devotion

The Gifts of Kings

January 6 is the festival of Epiphany. It’s sometimes known as the Feast of the Three Kings. It commemorates the visit to Bethlehem of those Magi from the East to pay homage to the Christchild.

A Chinese doctor once told Lutheran nurses at a meeting in Adelaide that the gifts those Wise Men gave to Jesus – gold, frankincense and myrrh – are used in Chinese medicine. In Chinese medicine, gold is used to calm the heart and soothes nerves, frankincense gives vital energy and relieves pain, and myrrh can help manage the pain and injury. He concluded: ‘Maybe the Wise Men were Chinese doctors!’

Frankincense is made from the resin of the Boswellia or Balsam tree, which grows in remote, dry parts of India, North Africa and the Middle East. The resin ‘tears’ are harvested from cuts in the tree, and can be ground into a powder and burned as incense. It also has strong antiseptic qualities.

Recent studies have shown that Boswellia extract or frankincense oil has many health benefits. Depending on the need, it can be inhaled, rubbed on the skin with a carrier oil, or consumed orally to give the following benefits:

· Boost the immune system and prevent illness.

· Relieve stress and anxiety.

· Destroy harmful toxins and bacteria, especially when used with myrrh.

· Heal skin.

· Improve memory.

· Balance hormone levels.

· Ease digestive issues.

· Aid to sleep.

· Anti-inflammatory properties.

Myrrh is a natural gum or resin extracted from a number of small, thorny Commiphora tree spe-cies. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine. Mixed with posca or wine, myrrh was common across ancient cultures as an analgesic. In pharmacy today, myrrh is used as an antiseptic in mouthwashes, gargles, and toothpastes. It is also used in some liniments and healing salves that may be applied to abrasions and other minor skin ailments.

Myrrh has also been used as an analgesic for toothache and is a common ingredient in tooth powders. Myrrh and borax in tincture can be used as a mouthwash. Myrrh gum is commonly claimed to remedy indigestion, ulcers, colds, cough, asthma, lung congestion, arthritis pain, and cancer. In some ancient liturgies, frankincense and myrrh were traditionally blessed on the Feast of Epiphany, which occurs in the middle of the northern hemisphere winter – the season for colds and flu.

When those eastern Magi travelled to Bethlehem to find the newborn King, they brought gifts symbolic of the role he would play. Gold portrayed Jesus’ kingly role. Frankincense was burned in religious ceremonies and used to purify the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 30:34-38). Only the High Priest could approach the Holy of Holies with this incense, so this gift pointed to Jesus’ priesthood and divinity. Myrrh, which was used on wounds and in anointing corpses, prefigured his role as a healer and foretold his death for humanity’s sin.

Epiphany reminds us that the Jesus whose birth we have recently celebrated is more than a cute baby in a box of straw. He’s the eternal Son of God, whose life, death and resurrection has ‘healed’ us from the disease of sin, and gives us a life that knows no death.

Rev Robert J Wiebusch, Adelaide, South Australia

revbob@ozemail.com.au