Jesus by the Magi - sometimes rather flatteringly referred to as the ‘Wise Men’ or (inaccurately) as ‘Three Kings’ - these words are clearly the heart of the whole story. The Magi were surely clever rather than wise, pedlars of superstition, charms and spells - men who held people in the ancient world at the mercy of their pseudo-science.

But now the representatives of the old order of magic, superstition and fate opened the treasure-chests of the Ancient Knowledge and laid their gifts at the feet of the new-born Messiah. A new age was born, a new kingdom of faith, not fate. But those gifts have a lot to answer for! Never mind the recession. Crowds of us will throng the shops right up to Christmas Eve in a frenzy of present buying, spending money we haven’t got on gifts people don’t need - or sometimes even want.
It’s odd to think that this annual retail frenzy surely has its roots in the story of those strange eastern visitors of Matthew’s Gospel and their remarkable gifts. The only alternative explanation would be the blameless St Nicholas in the fourth century who, so tradition says, at Christmas distributed gifts to the poor children of the town in Turkey where he was the bishop.

Either way, Christmas presents have their origins in the gifts given to mark the birth of Jesus. We can’t give them directly to him, for obvious reasons, so we give them to someone else. ‘Insofar as you do it for the least of these my brothers and sisters,’ said Jesus, ‘you do it for me.’
In the matter of appropriateness of gift, the Magi actually do rather well. After all, what do you give to the child who is, as they rather unwisely described him to Herod, ‘born king’? They came up with three gifts, as we all know: gold (because he was a king), frankincense (because he was to be a great high priest) and myrrh (because he was born to die). What Joseph and Mary made of these offerings one can’t imagine, but as gifts for the Messiah they were spot on.

On this occasion, at least, the seers saw the truth. In his poem ‘Christmas’ John Betjeman lists a lot of goofy gifts - among them ‘bath salts and inexpensive scent, and hideous tie so kindly meant’. His lines make me wince every time I read them because they sound exactly like my last minute Christmas shopping.
But he places this wry list of inappropriate gifts right at the heart of a poem about the Nativity. He is contrasting the presents we buy and wrap up and hand over at

Christmas with God’s greatest gift - ‘the Maker of the sky and sea, become a child on earth for me’. There is no reason why we should not give gifts at Christmas, but every reason for giving them, like the Magi, thoughtfully, responsibly and appropriately.
Forget the bath salts for Auntie Beryl and the hideous tie for Malcolm in the choir, but perhaps add to the list the starving in Somalia, the homeless or Christian Aid - the ‘least of these, my brothers and sisters‘. It’s not so much the gift, we say, but the spirit in which it’s given. Could that mean that getting our presents right requires thought and prayer as well as a warm credit card?

The Revd Canon David Winter’s latest book ‘Facing the Darkness and Finding the Light’ (BRF £6.99), is a guide to the biblical book of Revelation.You can read some of his other work on his website: www.davidwinter-author.co.uk