The Pastor's Stolen Bicycle
The following Sunday, after the church service had ended and the congregation had gone home, the senior minister walked into the pastor's office with great anticipation. He had been eager all week to find out whether his unusual plan had worked.
As soon as he entered, he noticed the pastor wearing a broad smile.
"Well?" the senior minister asked excitedly. "Did you follow my advice? Did you stop at the commandment, 'You shall not steal,' and preach with all your heart? Did the guilty person confess or quietly return your bicycle?"
The pastor couldn't help but laugh.
"Not exactly," he replied. "Things didn't go quite the way either of us expected."
The minister looked puzzled.
"What do you mean? Didn't you deliver the sermon as we discussed?"
"Oh, I certainly started to," the pastor answered. "I carefully went through each of the Ten Commandments, explaining their meaning one by one. I was fully prepared to pause when I reached 'You shall not steal' and remind everyone about honesty and integrity."
"So what happened?" the minister asked impatiently.
The pastor smiled even wider.
"Before I reached that commandment, I came to another one—'You shall not commit adultery.' The moment I read those words, something suddenly clicked in my mind."
The minister raised an eyebrow.
"And then?"
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