Artaban - The Fourth King

The story is an addition and expansion of the "The Fourth King” - a short novel or long short story by Henry van Dyke. It was initially published in 1895 and has been reprinted many times since then.

The story is an addition and expansion of the account of the Biblical Magi, recounted in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It tells about a "fourth" wise man (accepting the tradition that the Magi numbered three), a priest of the Magi named Artaban, one of the Medes from Persia. Like the other Magi, he sees signs in the heavens proclaiming that a King has been born among the Jews. Like them, he sets out to see the newborn ruler, carrying treasures to give as gifts to the child - a sapphire, a ruby, and a "pearl of great price". However, he stops along the way to help a dying man, which makes him late to meet with the caravan of the other three wise men. Because he missed the caravan, and he can't cross the desert with only a horse, he is forced to sell one of his treasures in order to buy the camels and supplies necessary for the trip. He then commences his journey but arrives in Bethlehem too late to see the child, whose parents have fled to Egypt. He saves the life of a child at the price of another of his treasures.
He then travels to Egypt and to many other countries, searching for Jesus for many years and performing acts of charity along the way. After 33 years, Artaban is still a pilgrim, and a seeker after light. Artaban arrives in Jerusalem just in time for the crucifixion of Jesus. He spends his last treasure, the pearl, to ransom a young woman from being sold into slavery. He is then struck in the head by a falling roof tile and is about to die, having failed in his quest to find Jesus, but having done much good through charitable works. A voice tells him "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." (Matthew 25:40)[4] He dies in a calm radiance of wonder and joy. His treasures were accepted, and the Other Wise Man found his King. - Wikipedia.

Moral of the Story:
Artaban, the fourth Wise Man, had been making God present in his community for years by helping others. God asks each of us on the feast of
Epiphany to be a fourth Wise Man by becoming God’s epiphanies, making His love present in the world around us by our acts of love and kindness.

I first heard story while I was in Goa on a vacation in 2005. The priest had included it in his homily on Epiphany at the Chapel of St.Joseph, Mapusa, Goa, India. Artaban, the fourth Wise Man, had been making God present in his community for years by helping others. God asks each of us on the feast of Epiphany to be a fourth Wise Man by becoming God’s epiphanies, making His love present in the world around us by our acts of love and kindness. Artaban learned that by helping others he was actually helping Christ. It was Our Lord who Artaban found sick on the road when he gave him the sapphire to buy medicine. It was Christ as the poor baby who Artaban saved by parting with his ruby.