The Last Gift

This is the story of the fourth magus, the wise man whom the world has forgotten.

When the magus saw the star shining in the the night’s sky over Bethleem, he sold everything he owned and bought three expensive gems: a sapphire stone, a ruby and an exquisite perl – to take to the new born king. He traveled for many days and nights to meet the other three magi.

On the way to Babylon, he found an injured man lying, almost dead, on the side of the road. The magus put the man on the camel and took him to the doctor. He gave the medicine man the sapphire stone in return for taking care of the wounded stranger. But the magus was three days late on his journey and when he reached their meeting place in Babylon, the three magi had already left without him. His dream was to bring gifts to the new born Jesus and didn’t feel discouraged. He followed the star to Betheleem alone. When he arrived, he learned the three magi had already found the baby, Kind Herod’s soldiers were slaying all the babies under the age of two, and Mary, Joseph and Jesus had already fled into Egypt. As the magus walked outside the gates of Bethleem, right in front of him a soldier was trying to rip a baby from his mother’s arms and slay him. The young woman was battling him trying to save her baby and screaming for help from the frightened villagers. The magus pulled out the ruby from the bag:

“Spare him! Let the baby live and I will give you this precious stone. Nobody will know our pact.”

The soldier grabbed the stone, and ran into the night. The young mother dropped on her knees with her eyes filled with tears of gratitude, and thanked the magus for saving her baby boy.

The magus continued his journey, hoping one day to see his dream come true: to find Jesus and give him the only gift he had left: the pearl. He traveled to Egypt and roamed for years trying to find Jesus, but without luck. Thirty years later, the magus learned that, somewhere in Palestine, Jesus was preaching the gospel. He journeyed to Jerusalem, only to discover that Christ had been crucified earlier that day. He ran towards Calvary hoping to see Jesus before it was too late, but on the road he encountered two roman soldiers dragging in chains behind them a young hebrew woman.

“Let her go, and I will give you this pearl. You can sell it and share the gold. Both of you will be rich” he said.

The soldiers ripped the stone from his hands and let the young woman go free.

The magus hurried to reach Calvary before it was too late, and was praying to God for the chance to see Jesus at least once. That was his dream, but now he had nothing. He was ashamed to come to Christ without a gift. When he arrived on the mountain, Jesus looked at him from the cross and said:

“Finally, you have come. I had been waiting for you. Thank you for your gifts, my beloved brother.”

“I have nothing” said the magus bowing his head in shame.

“You’ve given me everything” said Jesus. “When you gave to those in need, you gave to me, and what you gave to me in love, you gave to our Father. I have received all your blessed gifts. Your acts of unconditional love are never in vain and your gifts of love are never lost my brother, although they will have effects far beyond what you will ever know. “

(inspired from an old Christian story)

Your friend,
Dr. Dragos

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