The Visitor

Once, there was a merchant who lived in a certain city in the east. He was a very devoted Christian and was righteous in his trade. He never let down his friends or even anyone who knew him.

He was always respected in the city and had a good name for himself. He was also free from any bad habits. His only problem was that he wanted everyone around him to follow his rituals.

He wanted everyone to pray when he did and also to pray before they dined. Apart from this, he was a good person. This was not a big problem within the house but when they had a guest who was not a Christian; it would be a little tough for him to follow.

During a certain Christmas, they all went to church for the gathering. After the gathering they reached home and baked a cake.

They were about to have their prayers when there was a loud knock. The merchant went to the door. On opening he found an old stranger. He invited the old man into the house and they returned to their prayers.

The old man however did not pray with them but remained silent.

The merchant found this out and asked the old man why he did not pray with them. The old man replied that he had not prayed throughout his life. He also added that he would not change himself just for the merchant’s sake.

This infuriated the merchant and he drove the man out of his house. As soon as he closed the door, there was an unearthly radiance from the Christmas tree. The entire family watched in awe.

Their Christmas tree slowly faded away and there was an angel in the place. The angel was very luminous but she was clearly very angry.

He went to the merchant and demanded the reason for chucking the old man out of the house.

She said that he had not prayed even for a minute since his birth and yet was blessed by Jesus Christ, whereas the merchant had forced him out of the house just because he had refused to pray along with them for dinner.

She also asked him to find the old man, apologize to him and bring him back to dinner otherwise his doing would become a sin. After saying this, the angel went away and his Christmas tree came back He at once set out to locate the old man.

He found him after sometime and took him to his house. He apologized for his misbehavior. The old man replied that he never prayed to Christ because he did not like self praising and disappeared. The merchant realized that his visitor was Jesus Christ himself.