How much gold?

“Gold is money. Everything else is credit…”

JP Morgan

 We have looked at the wisdom behind two of the Magi’s Christmas gifts. It is obvious that gold is wealth, but sorting presents is never easy. How much gold would you bring to celebrate the birth of Jesus? In Matthew, there is a reference to the arriving kings being mistaken for an invasion force, so the answer may be quite a lot. Scholars have estimated (how would you do that?) over $4 million dollars in todays money. This would have made Jesus a man of independent means. Perhaps the answer to a suitable gift is easy. You just need to bring something, maybe not even gold. Pictured above is a pen handed to me a few weeks ago by a patient. She said- “I heard you had been unwell, and wanted you to have something pretty that caught my eye when we were in China“. The value of a gift is irrelevant. It is a symbol that people value you as an individual and that you are in their thoughts as they go through their lives. #merrychristmaseveryone #letsmakelemonade