Most of us had heard of three wise men who went after the guiding star and brought Santa presents.
In 1895, Henry Van Dyke wrote a beautiful story called ‘About the Fourth Sage’.
What does the book tell about? Even this fourth sage sees a sign in the sky, goes on a journey to see the baby Jesus and carries with him gifts – sapphire, ruby and a very rare pearl. However, nothing goes according to plan. He misses meeting the other three sages because he is delayed by helping the dying person. In order to cross the desert, he needs camels and supplies and will sell one of his treasures to buy. During the next trip, thanks to another of the treasures, he saves the life of a small child, but arrives late at the nativity scene – in the meantime, Santa has left the town…
However, the fourth sage does not give up and does not stop looking for Jesus. After many years and many acts of charity, he spends his last treasure to save the girl from selling into slavery. He will never find Jesus, but when he dies, he hears God’s voice saying: ‘… what you have done for others… you have done that for me’! Jesus accepted his gifts and in a sense this sage found God more truly than the others.
It’s a powerful story! And it offers several observations for the Christmas season:
1) When something is not happening as we would like when we are frustrated, when it seems that reaching our goal is unattainable. …This story outlines us for the fact that we may be closer to our goal than we think. Perhaps we have progressed further than we realize. Every delay and complication can work in our favor in a deep and wonderful way. At the end of our journey, we may see all the hidden miracles that were disguised as hardships. But seeing them like this is now a miracle of faith. And the Christmas story encourages us to believe.
2) The higher our aspiration, the more dedication, patience, perseverance and good will are required of us. We all know that nothing worthwhile comes easily. And when this sage remained true to his goal, he persevered and did good despite so many obstacles, in the end, even though his life seemed never-ending a struggle, he found his great reward. It’s a story of hope. And Christmas encourages us to look at any aspect of life where we have lost or are losing hope. Can we decide to continue to hope and not give up even if everything seems lost?
3) The greatest gifts that the fourth sage gave to God were his deeds to help people on their journey. He gave without restrictions, gave repeatedly, gave, even though it cost him a lot. If Christmas is about something significant… then it’s giving. They are about God giving us everything. And about how we continue in this cycle of giving by sharing what we have. Maybe this Christmas we will ask ourselves how we can give others our time, our resources, our talents, listen to them… or give our loved ones an assurance that they are not alone in their problems. … our personal message of love.
I believe these three things are most important. – Faith. Hope. And love. And I believe that this Christmas can become significant when we pass on God’s light, by deciding to believe, daring to hope and undertake to love … even if only in tiny steps.
unabledK. Fernandez
Bible, Matthew 25:40 What good have you done for one of my tiny brothers, you have done that for me.’ (SNC)
