Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh Part 3 - Myrrh

Myrrh was one of the three gifts from the wise men given to Jesus when they came to worship Him as King of the Jews. (Matthew 2:1-2, 11).

While gold spoke of Jesus’ kingship, and frankincense spoke of Jesus’ priesthood, myrrh spoke of Jesus’ death.

"Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat." - Matthew 26:6-7 KJV

His disciples were indignant at the waste of the oil. Jesus responded,

"For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." - Matthew 26:11-13 KJV

The Greek root word for ‘ointment’ is ‘myrrh.’ The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Myrrh was used to anoint a body at burial.

The Greek word for ‘myrrh,’ used in the gifts of the three wisemen, is used only two times in the New Testament. The second time is at His burial.

"And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus…And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight." - John 19:38-39 KJV

Interestingly, this is the same Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, that Jesus told, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:1-21, John 7:50-52, John 19:38-42).

An observation was made about the hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes that Nicodemus brought to embalm Jesus’ body: "The quantity of the balm is extraordinary and exceeds all normal proportions. This is a royal burial."

How fitting the gift of myrrh: Jesus was born King of the Jews, born to die for the sin of the world. Just as the wise men offered Jesus the gift of myrrh at His birth, Nicodemus offered the gift of myrrh at His death, making sure Jesus had the burial of a King.