Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume….
It wasn’t until my college days that I noticed the following verse from the song, We Three Kings.
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume,
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in a stone-cold tomb.
Having just returned from Christmas break, I was attending our weekly celebration of the Eucharist at the Catholic Student Center. We began the liturgy with a song I had heard many times. As the words of this unfamiliar verse began to sink in, I shared a perplexed look with another student standing next to me. What were these lines about suffering and death doing in a Christmas song? I also wondered why I had never heard the verse before.
After mass I went home, found my Christmas records and began to look for different versions of the song. The few recordings in my collection started out the same way that we did at church.
We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder starO Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect LightBorn a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reinO Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect light
Not only did they start here, they also ended here. All the versions on my Christmas records ended at the second verse, with mention of only the first gift of gold. There was not a word about frankincense or myrrh. My curiosity led me to keep searching for other recordings of the song until I found versions that also included the third verse and even the fifth verse.
Frankincense to offer have I
Incense owns a Deity nigh
Pray’r and praising, all men raising
Worship Him, God most highO Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect lightGlorious now behold Him arise
King and God and Sacrifice
Alleluia, Alleluia
Earth to heav’n replies
It was fascinating to me that myrrh could be almost universally left out of the picture. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense that popular singers would want to avoid singing about death and suffering on their Christmas albums. It probably wouldn’t help too much with sales. We didn’t hear the verse frequently in church because it is a song specific to one day each year and we don’t often sing more than three verses of a song. Still, having heard the verse about myrrh continued to raise questions for me.
The first question was, “What is myrrh?” I knew what gold was and I always assumed frankincense was just a fancy word for incense, but never really thought to look into myrrh. Had I been asked, I would have guessed at the time that it was some sort of fabric. It didn’t take long to find out that myrrh is an ointment that was used in the time of Christ to anoint someone’s body for burial. Though I had never thought much about it, it made perfect sense. The three gifts reveal who Jesus is: gold for a king, frankincense for God, and myrrh that foreshadows death. From the very beginning of Christ’s life he is revealed to be our Savior.
Aside from Matthew’s account of the magi and their gifts, the Gospels also mention anointing with myrrh at other points in the life of Christ.The two that come most readily to mind are the anointing at Bethany and John’s account of Jesus’ burial. Here is Matthew’s version of the anointing at Bethany.
Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of costly perfumed oil, and poured it on his head while he was reclining at table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and said, “Why this waste? It could have been sold for much, and the money given to the poor.” Since Jesus knew this, he said to them, “Why do you make trouble for the woman? She has done a good thing for me. The poor you will always have with you; but you will not always have me. In pouring this perfumed oil upon my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be spoken of, in memory of her.” (Matt 26:6-13)
And here is John’s account of Jesus’ burial.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by. (John 19: 38-42)
We also see the symbol of myrrh used in our present day sacramental life. Sacred Chrism is the perfumed oil used for anointing in baptism, confirmation and ordination. It is also used to consecrate new church buildings. Today it is usually made by mixing an expensive balsam perfume with olive oil, but it still takes on the symbolism of myrrh. This is expressed especially in the rite of baptism when Christians are anointed like Christ for death. The baptismal font at my current parish of St. Thomas is in fact shaped like a tomb as a reminder that baptism is a dying to our former selves so that we may rise with Christ to new life. Saint Paul puts it to the Christian community this way,
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. (Romans 6: 3-4)
This is where it seems to me that this strange gift of myrrh fits into the celebration of Christmas. It reminds us that from the beginning Christ has come to reconcile sinners with God. It also leaves no doubt that He is willing to enter even into death for the sake of those He loves. More than anything else, it reminds us that we are to be people who look forward to the day when death will be destroyed forever. Once again, the words of Saint Paul describe it well.
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality. And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:51-55)
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
Related Posts:
About The Author
Comments