Why is it significant that the Gentiles bring the newborn Jesus gifts and not the people of Jerusalem?
There is both beauty in the bringing of gifts to Jesus by Gentiles—foreshadowing that he will be King of the nations—and something ominous in the apathy of the people of Jerusalem toward their king, foreshadowing how, despite Jesus’s fulfillment of prophecy, he would be rejected by the Jewish high priests and teachers of the law (Matthew 23:37), who should have been eager to find him, based on Micah 5:2.
These gifts definitively demonstrate the homage of a small group of Gentiles. It is a sign which promises that Jesus will gather his people together from every corner of the earth.1 In Matthew’s story there is also something frightening in terms of how this homage to King Jesus is brought. This is because the homage is brought by only a small group of people and the gifts do not include as much as a kernel of gold from any high priest or scribe, even though all of them had indeed received the news of the birth and all of them were reminded of the prophecy of Micah. Apparently, they considered the excitement with regard to the news of this birth to be beneath them. Jerusalem’s apathy is a sign of what is about to happen, namely, the rejection of this Son of Mary by the high priests and the teachers of the law (Matthew 23:37).2
11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.