We are coming to the end of our Epiphany journey with Artaban, the wise man whose story is told by Henry Van Dyke. Artaban missed his meeting with his fellow magi because he paused to help a dying Hebrew outsideof Babylon. Even though he went straight to Bethlehem on the advice of man he saved, he missed the Holy Family. He was able to save a child from Herod’s soldiers by bribing the captain with the ruby meant for the Prince.
He spends the rest of his life in a seemingly fruitless
search for the Child, now a Man. In the final chapter of the short book, we
meet him after 33 years. “Worn and weary and ready to die, but still looking
for the King, he had come for the last time to Jerusalem.” He learns from
someone in the crowd that they are going to Golgotha to witness the crucifixion
of Jesus of Nazareth who Pilate sentenced because he claimed to be “King of the
Jews.” Artaban wonders, “It may be that I shall find the King…and come in
time to offer my pearl for His ransom…” Instead, he is confronted by another
dilemma as a young Parthian girl pleads for him to save her from slavery.
Van Dyke asks, “Was this his great opportunity, or his last
temptation…it was inevitable…does not the inevitable come from God?...and is
not love the light of the soul?” He gives the final gem, the pearl, to the girl
as her ransom.
As an earthquake shakes Jerusalem, Artaban and the girl
huddle together. Artaban comes to the realization the “he knew all was well,
because he had done the best that he could, from day to day.” A tile from the
roof strikes him, and as he dies, he hears his King, “Verily I say unto thee,
Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou
has done it unto me.”
In a sermon for the coming Sunday, the Rt. Rev. Frank Logue, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia focuses on the first part of the Gospel for Sunday (Mark 1:29-31). As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
Bishop Logue notes that it can seem off-putting that as soon
as she is healed, Simon’s mother-in-law begins to ‘serve them.’ However, he
points out the word translated ‘serve’ is diakonos the root of the word
deacon.
Logue states, “Her service was not a one-time,
over-and-done-with action…the meaning of her actions was transformed by Jesus’
healing touch. She did not serve and minister to them because of some duty. She
served out of love. Simon’s mother-in-law became as much a follower of
Jesus as any of his disciples…Mark describes her using language that makes her
the first deacon in Christianity. She was the first person to have their
ordinary diakonos, or service of others, transformed into servant
ministry.”
Artaban’s life was filled with that servant ministry, that
way of diakonos. Like Artaban we can only respond to the opportunity in
front of us. We can respond with the Love of God, as Artaban did when he
gave spent the sapphire to further his journey, used the ruby to save a child,
and rescued the Parthian girl with the pearl. Throughout his quest, he cared
for many in large and small ways. For that he heard Jesus say, “you have done
it as to me.” His servant ministry, his diakonos is ours as well--to
serve in the name of love.
Van Dyke asks, “is not love the light of the soul?” What is
your response?
The film A Case for Love, mentioned last week
highlighted many small ways that ordinary people are shining the light of love.
In what way do you shine that light?
As we move closer to Ash Wednesday (February 14) and Lent
you may want to consider what diakonos opportunity you will find in that
season.
