Stale Bread and Prosperity

Once in a village, there lived a merchant who was very pious. He used to worship Christ everyday. He visited the church all the days and also attended all the meetings.

The merchant was very stingy. He seldom helped the poor and needy. In the same village, there lived a peasant who was also a sincere devotee of Christ.

Though he did not go to the church all the times, he did everything he could do to help the poor and the needy to his optimum.

He would sometimes go to bed on an empty stomach as he would not mind giving away all of his food to the needy.

Jesus always liked the peasant and wanted to test them both to see how generous they were. Jesus disguised himself as a beggar and approached the peasant first.

The sight of a hungry and poor beggar at the door moved the peasant and he gave away all of his food to the beggar. Next, he approached the merchant and asked for some food.

The merchant searched the entire house and gave him two loaves of stale bread. This shocked Jesus and he moved away silently from the house.

He had never expected this from a merchant who spent hours praying to him. Jesus decided to teach him a lesson.

The merchant slowly started losing his wealth. His business ran into a lot of rough weather and never recovered. He was soon in high debts and he sold all his possessions and also his house to clear all the debts.

The peasant on the other hand, found himself becoming rich. His farming flourished, he bought more land and carried out his farming on a large scale.

He bought the very house that the merchant had sold to clear his debt and moved into the house with his family. In spite of all the newfound wealth, he always gave lots in charity to the poor and needy.

The merchant became poorer and poorer. He was so poor that he had to beg for food. One day, he reached the house where the peasant lived with his family and begged for food.

At that time, Jesus Christ disguised as the peasant gave him two loaves of stale bread. He was shocked to receive two loaves of bread.

Jesus showed himself before him and reminded him of the incident when he had given two loaves of stale bread to Jesus when he was disguised as a beggar. He apologized for the incident.

Jesus blessed him to gain wealth. The merchant slowly became rich, but not as rich as he once was. This was because Jesus wanted him to remember to be generous.