December 21st, 2008
Dear friends;
Did you ever hear The Story of the Other Wise Man, by Henry van Dyke? It’s of a fourth Wise Man, Artaban, a story heard first long ago in the Hall of Dreams, in the palace of the Heart of Humanity. Artaban was an astrologer and physician of the priesthood of the ancient Magi. Artaban’s heart was pure and on that fact the story rests.
Long had the Magi looked for a sign in the sky that would foretell the coming of a great king. On the night it was first seen and tracked, it “spired upward through rays of saffron and orange into a point of white radiance…..a living heart of light.”
Artaban met with his friend, Abgarus to tell him of his great need to go to meet the new King and pay him homage. Abgarus, too, longs to follow the path of the star but he knows he is too infirm to make the long journey. Abgarus encourages Artaban, “”My son, it is better to follow even the shadow of the best than to remain content with the worst.”
Artaban sold of all his wealth and bought three great jewels; a sapphire, a ruby and a pearl, so that he might give them in tribute to the new King. He had long arranged to travel with three others of the Magi and they had agreed upon a meeting time and place.
So Artaban hurried to meet his friends, but alas! He arrived too late! Although they had waited, finally they had started without him. He read the message they had left for him, urging him to “follow us across the desert!” and he, determined, sold the sapphire to buy the necessary provisions for the long journey. He rode his faithful horse past mountains and rocky torrents, across vast plains and past gardens with splashing fountains. He rode until he was forced to stop and let his weary horse rest. He comrades were still far ahead of him.
When he looked around in the darkness, he saw what looked to be a bundle of rags beside the road. Artaban peered closely at the dark form and was startled to find a sleeping man. Artaban reached out to touch him and found him burning with fever.
Artaban was torn. If he stayed to help the sick man, he would lose his quest. If he left the sick man on the ground, he might die. Artaban could not leave the man there to die. He gave him water and mixed a potent remedy. He tenderly cared for him and stayed until the man revived. Only then did Artaban continue on his journey.
After many days travel, Artaban arrived in Bethlehem only three days after the other three Wise Men had laid their gifts at the cradle of the baby Jesus. The parents had taken the baby King and fled to another country! He was given food and refuge by a poor peasant woman, very poor but willing to share her meager fare with the traveler. Artaban played with the woman’s baby, marveling at his beauty and sweetness. As he ate the cheese and bread she had served him, they heard a great commotion in the streets of the town. Artaban flung open the door to see Herod’s soldiers with bloody swords, killing the children! What an outcry there was, and lamenting from the horrified parents! When the captain of the demon band made to thrust Artaban aside to kill the child within, Artaban held the beautiful ruby to the man, saying, “There is no child in this house.” The man glared at Artaban and then snatched the jewel from him and called to the other soldiers to leave the house alone.
Artaban continued his quest to find the King. He met others along the way and was told by a simple but wise man that Jesus would not be found in a palace, nor among the rich and powerful. He is advised to look among the poor and the lowly, the sorrowful and the oppressed. Always he looked for the little family from Bethlehem. He traveled through countries of famine and countries where the plague killed many in its path. He looked through the slave markets and the weary toil of galley ships. Although he found none to worship, he found plenty to help. He fed the hungry, he clothed the naked, and he healed the sick. He comforted the captive and the oppressed. The years passed swiftly and Artaban was still a “seeker after light” and still a pilgrim thirty-three years after he had raced across the wilderness to pay homage to the king.
He found himself in Jerusalem during the time of Passover. There he heard that Jesus of Nazareth, greatly loved by many and believed to be the Son of God, was sentenced to be crucified. And so Artaban followed the crowd to Golgotha, his heart trembling with apprehension. He thought of his last jewel, the luminescent pearl hidden in the folds of his robe. Perhaps he had come in time to offer the pearl for His ransom.
We know that is not how Artaban’s story ends. Here is what happened to the carefully guarded pearl, saved for so many years.
Artaban sees some soldiers dragging a young disheveled woman between them. She breaks away from their hands and flings herself at his feet, crying, “Have pity on me! I am being sold into slavery for my father’s debts. Save me from worse than death!”
This was his third trial, the ultimate probation and the final and irrevocable choice; the gift to religion or humanity? It seemed inevitable. But doesn’t the inevitable come from God, really?
Artaban laid the pearl in the hand of the slave. “Here is thy ransom, daughter.”
At that same instant, the earth rumbled and shook and the skies darkened. A heavy tile, shaken from a roof, falls and strikes the old Magi in the temple. He lay breathless and pale in the rubble of the street. As the freed slave held him tenderly in her arms, she heard him say, as though in response to someone, “When saw I thee hungry and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw I thee a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and clothed thee? When saw I thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? Three and thirty years I looked for thee but I have never seen thy face nor ministered to thee, my king.”
Now the girl clearly hears the voice that speaks to Artaban. “Verily, I say unto thee, inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, then thou hast done it unto me.”
Artaban’s journey ends when he draws his final breath, his treasures accepted in a way he had never imagined. The Other Wise Man had found the King.
