Matthew 25:40

Inasmuch

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40 (AV).

Have you ever heard the story of the Fourth Wise Man? You have all heard of the Three Wise Men who came from the East to lay their gifts before the Babe in Bethlehem. Dr. Henry van Dyke tells us the story of the Other Wise Man, who arrived too late.

His name was Artaban, and he lived far away in a city among the mountains of Persia. Like the other Wise Men he had studied the stars and the ancient prophecies. He knew that a great King would arise in Israel who would make life everlasting, and that His birth would be heralded by a star. He knew that the time had come when this King should appear on the earth, and he had arranged with his friends the other Wise Men that, when the star appeared, they should wait for him ten days at the Temple at Borsippa in Babylonia, and that they should then set out together for Jerusalem to worship the great King.

Artaban had sold his beautiful house and all that he possessed to buy three magnificent jewels for the King. One was a sapphire, “blue as a fragment of the night sky,” the second a ruby, “redder than a ray of sunrise,” the third a pearl, “pure as the peak of a snow mountain at twilight.”

One night Artaban saw the star in the East and he set out immediately on his steed Vasda to join his companions at Borsippa. It was a long journey across plains, and through fertile valleys, and over bare mountain passes; but he knew that by rising very early in the morning and riding late into the night he could just manage to accomplish it in time.

On the evening of the tenth day Artaban found himself only three hours distant from Borsippa. Vasda was nearly exhausted, but the journey was almost completed and his friends would wait till midnight. As he was passing through a grove of date palms his horse suddenly hesitated and stopped. A dark object lay in the shadow of the last palm tree, and the Wise Man on dismounting discovered a poor sick Hebrew who had been overcome by marsh fever.

And now a terrible struggle took place within the traveler's breast. He knew that if he stopped to attend to the sick man he would be too late to join his companions. They would conclude that he had given up the quest and go on without him. On the other hand, if he left the Hebrew lying helpless there he would certainly die. It was but for a moment that he hesitated. Then he knelt down beside the sick man and did all in his power to relieve his sufferings. He moistened his lips and his brow and gave him medicine out of a phial which he carried in his girdle. All night long he stayed beside him and tended him, and in the morning the Hebrew was so far restored as to be able to sit up and look about him. When Artaban saw that the man was well enough to take care of himself, he laid beside him all the bread and wine that he had, and told him to go to Babylon when his strength was sufficiently restored. Then mounting Vasda he rode on towards Borsippa. But alas, when he reached the Temple he found it was as he had feared. His friends had gone forward without him.

Without money and without food Artaban could not hope to cross the desert alone. He must return to Babylon to buy provisions and a train of camels. And to do this he must sell one of his precious jewels. Very reluctantly he parted with the sapphire, but he consoled himself with the thought that he had yet two gems to offer to the King.

All this caused delay, and when at last Artaban reached Bethlehem he found that his companions had come and gone three days before. But he discovered something still sadder; for he was told that that same night Joseph of Nazareth had taken his wife and child away secretly, and it was whispered they were going to Egypt. The village was in an uproar, for an order had gone forth from Herod that all the children under two years of age should be slain, and Artaban gave his precious ruby to a soldier to save the life of a baby whose mother had shown him kindness.

The Wise Man had now only one jewel left the beautiful pearl and his quest was still unfulfilled.

He was very sad as he thought how he had spent for the sake of man that which was meant for God, but still he did not give up the search.

He followed the young King down into Egypt, and long and patiently he sought for Him; but all in vain. Now and again he came to a place where He had sojourned some time before, but the Child Himself he never found. At length a wise old Hebrew told him that the Messiah must be sought for not among the great and wealthy but among the poor and lowly, the sorrowful and the oppressed. So the other Wise Man visited the sick and the poor, the sad and the imprisoned. He fed the hungry, and clothed the naked, and healed the sick, and comforted the captive, but the Babe who was born in Bethlehem he did not find.

And so the years sped on. Artaban's hair turned from black to silver, and from silver to snowy-white. His back grew bent, and his step became feeble. At length, thirty-three years after he had first set out, he came again to Jerusalem. It was the season of the Passover, but the city was in a state of great excitement, for two famous robbers were about to be crucified, and, between them, Jesus of Nazareth who had called Himself the “King of the Jews.” Hoping, and yet fearing, that this might indeed be the King whom he had sought half a lifetime, Artaban joined the crowd who were pressing on towards one of the city gates beyond which stood the hill where the men were to be put to death. Just outside he met a band of soldiers who were carrying away a young girl as a slave. And the girl, seeing Artaban's kind face, cried out to him to save her.

Then the Wise Man took out his last precious gift. Never had it looked so lovely, so worthy of the King he had hoped to find. Must he indeed part with it? Then he would have no gift left, and must give up his quest for ever. And yet he could not do otherwise. Trembling, he laid the gem in the hand of the slave that she might buy back her freedom. And even as he did so the ground shook with a mighty earthquake, the houses tottered, and a tile from a roof struck the old man a mortal blow on the forehead.

As he lay dying in the arms of the girl he had rescued, a voice came through the twilight very small and still, and Artaban spoke as if in answer, “Not so, my Lord: For when saw I thee an hungered 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 have I looked for thee; but I have never seen thy face, nor ministered to thee, my King.”

And the voice replied, “Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me.”

Then with one long last breath, Artaban's journey ended. His gifts were accepted. He had found the King.

Boys and girls, can you guess why I have told you this beautiful story? It is because it explains far better than twenty sermons could the meaning of those words of Jesus, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

We shall one day be judged, not by the amount of fame or wealth which we have gathered on this earth, but by the little kindly acts of love and service which we have done, or left undone, from day to day.

Jesus Christ came down to earth so that He might share our joys and our sorrows, so that He might suffer our pains, so that He might die the death of a man. And He did all this because He loved us so dearly, and because, by suffering Himself, He could know best how to comfort and help us.

And Jesus cares so much for all His children that when they are hungry, He is hungry, when they are sad, He is sad; and all who help or comfort His suffering ones, help and comfort Him.

If you saw Jesus tired and hungry, wouldn't you run to help Him? Wouldn't you rejoice if He came to rest in your house? Wouldn't you be glad to give Him food and drink? Then remember that when you see a little sick child, Jesus is suffering in that child, when you see your mother tired with her day's work, Jesus is weary too, when you meet a ragged, pinched boy on the streets, Jesus is cold and hungry. Don't turn away from them with an unsympathetic heart, for then you will be earning Christ's rebuke, “Inasmuch as ye did it not.” But do what you can to help, and then you will indeed be helping Jesus, and you will one day receive His glad welcome, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in.”