Christmas: A Gift of Gold
In 1972, an excavator working in the Bulgarian city of Varna on the western shore of the Black Sea unearthed some metallic artifacts while digging a ditch. He saved the item in a shoebox and later showed the dirt-encrusted pieces to a former teacher, who alerted a few archaeologists about a “treasure.” Despite their skepticism, the archaeologists came to look at the objects and were astonished. The objects were true archaeological treasure. They were all gold, more than two pounds of gold! We now know that these were the first pieces of the oldest collection of worked gold ornamentation ever discovered.
The excavator showed the archaeologists where he found the objects, and the archaeological excavation soon began. The source turned out to be an ancient cemetery with about 300 graves dating from the earliest known farmers in Europe. More than 3,000 gold objects were taken from just 65 of those graves, all of them either graves of male skeletons or graves that contained only the gold objects. Even in those 65 graves, more than 2,400 gold pieces (80%) were found in just five graves.
Gold stands apart among the metallic elements. Most elements aren’t easily obtained in their pure form. Pure elements are too reactive, and they prefer to make all sorts of compounds that are much more chemically stable. Gold doesn’t make many compounds. Gold prefers to be all by itself, in its mostly pure form. Because of that, gold resists corrosion, even corrosion by most acids. Gold is also fairly soft and malleable, as far as metals go, which makes it easy to manipulate when you don’t have advanced metal-working equipment. Gold’s also pretty. Unlike most metals which are gray or silvery, gold has a shiny, yellow appearance that sets it apart. All of these attributes make it an attractive metal to work with. If you find enough pure nuggets, you can readily work it into pretty ornaments.
The gold from the Varna graveyard, all thirteen pounds of it, testifies to the great value people place on gold. Even at that early date, gold was something only for certain people, presumably the rich or powerful. In the Old Testament, we see gold associated with worship. When Moses received the covenant on Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel were making a golden calf to worship. After purging that wickedness, Moses instructed them in building a tabernacle to worship God, a tabernacle adorned with golden decoration and filled with gold furnishings.
Compared to the Old Testament, gold is hardly mentioned in the new. Of the four gospels, only Matthew mentions it. First, we see gold brought as one of the gifts of the Magi, gold that may very well have been spent when Joseph and his family fled to Egypt from Herod’s cruelty. After all, what’s a baby going to do with gold?
Matthew then recorded a series of Jesus’ discourses after the triumphal entry in which he blasts the religious leaders for their hypocrisy. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?” (Matt. 23:16-17, ESV).
Gold is prized for its beauty and rarity and durability. Gold is a sign of status and power. Like much of the Old Testament sacrificial system, gold was a symbol of something much grander, and like the rest of that sacrificial system, the importance of gold faded in the presence of Christ. Jesus helps us to see that it’s not the gold that’s important. It’s the presence of God that gives the gold its meaning.
Now, the presence of God has come in a different way. From the manger to the cross and now in our hearts and lives, God is with us, and gold is just another reminder. Symbols naturally fade in importance when the reality comes. Truly, many symbols of God’s presence can still teach us, but His presence is alive and active right in our midst. This is the hope of the Incarnation. This is the message of Christmas.
Have you read my book? You should check that out too!
