Rotter

THE ARREST
(Matthew 18: 23-35)
The Chief Security Officer was elated. 
The thief had been caught. 
He knew the Managing Director would be
 very pleased with him. 
He put a call through to him to tell him.
The culprit was a staff of the company. 
They had noticed some goods were 
getting missing from the store for a 
few months now. 
They had thought it was the store keeper, 
but it took the CSO a few months to
 find out who the thief was. It was Mr. Felix. 
The news spread round the organization 
like wild fire. Mr. Felix? The man was very 
quiet and reserved, he was the last man 
you would suspect to be a thief…
The MD called for a staff meeting and 
Mr. Felix was also there. 
The MD told him how shocked he was. 
“You have been a staff of this company 
for 15 years. You have risen to the 
position of a supervisor. 
Needless to say, I am very disappointed 
in you. I would have vouched you could 
never steal. 
The Accountant has informed me that all 
you have stolen is valued at 2 million naira. 
You are dismissed with immediate effect. 
You will be handed over to the police and 
you will pay that money back to the 
organization- I don’t care how you do it 
but trust me, you WILL pay back!”
Mr. Felix broke down in tears. 
“Sir, I am sorry…” the other staff members 
sneered, “Yeah, right! You’re sorry you 
got caught, you mean…” 
Mr. Felix went on his knees. 
“Sir, have mercy on me! I know I have 
wronged you, but I plead with you to 
temper justice with mercy. I will never 
steal anything again, please give me a 
second chance…”
The police arrived in the office- the CSO 
had placed a call across to them. 
As Mr. Felix was hand cuffed and led away
 to the police car, he turned and looked at 
the MD. “Sir, please, don’t let them take 
me away. I don’t think I will come out of their 
custody alive. Please have mercy on me!”
The MD did not say a word. Mr. Felix was 
pushed into the waiting vehicle and they 
drove off…
Just as they got to the gate, the security 
man waved them down. 
“Officers, the MD just called to say you 
should please come back to his office.” 
The police turned back and returned to 
see the MD.
“Gentlemen, sorry for wasting your time. 
I have decided not to press charges. 
Please release him and let him go.” 
The CSO was stunned. 
“Sir, are you sure? 
Why do you want to let this criminal go? 
He deserves to rot in jail!” 
The MD smiled, “yes he deserves to rot
 in jail- that’s a way to look at it. 
But I just took a different view of the 
whole issue and I decided to let it go”
“Which other view is that sir?”
“I have just spent 2 million to teach 
a staff not to steal again”
“Hmmmm… I just hope you won’t 
regret this sir”
Mr. Felix was stunned. 
Not only was the MD releasing him, 
he was also restoring him to his position 
and writing off the debt! 
“I will be eternally grateful to you sir!” 
“Don’t worry- go and steal no more”, 
the MD said.
The CSO was not impressed. 
To him, once a crook, always a crook. 
“My eyes are on you, Felix!” 
he warned as the cuffs were removed
 from his hands…
A week later, the CSO called the MD. 
“Sir, there’s a situation here in the staff 
canteen you may need to come see. 
It has to do with Felix…” 
The MD was a bit embarrassed. 
He hoped Mr. Felix had not been caught 
stealing again. He knew the CSO was 
not impressed with his benevolence when 
he let Felix off the hook. It was as if the 
CSO had made it his personal agenda to 
prove him wrong. He reluctantly left his 
desk and went down to the canteen…
He opened the door and froze: 
Mr. Felix was torturing a fellow staff and 
he was placing a call over to the police 
to get him arrested. He was oblivious 
the CSO and the MD were by the door, 
watching. 
Other staff were pleading with Mr. Felix 
to be lenient with Mr. Ubani who he was 
torturing, but he would have none of that. 
“He owes me money and he must pay! 
The money was due 3 months ago and 
I can’t take it anymore! He MUST pay me, 
else he rots in jail!”
“How much does Ubani owe you, Felix?”
Felix froze. He recognized the MD’s voice. 
He turned and saw the MD standing there 
with the CSO looking at him. His eyes were 
practically penetrating into his entire being. 
“G-g-g-g-ood m-m-m-orning S-s-s-ir…” 
he stammered.
“I owe him 2 thousand naira sir!” 
Mr. Ubani cried. “Get up, Ubani. 
Don’t worry, I’ll pay Felix off for you.” 
Mr. Ubani got up and scampered out of 
the canteen. 
“Thank you sir!” he whispered as he
 walked past the MD.
The MD turned to Mr. Felix. “You wicked 
ingrate! You thief! Just last week, 
I forgave you for stealing goods from my 
company worth 2 million naira.
 I got you arrested, but you pleaded and 
I let you off the hook. Shouldn’t you have 
done same for Ubani?” 
In that moment, the police came in. 
“Good day, gentlemen. We got a call to come 
arrest someone for a crime. Who placed the 
call and who is the criminal here?”
“The MD looked up. It was the same police 
officers that came a week earlier to arrest 
Mr. Felix. How ironic…
“Good day, officers. Thank you for coming. 
Mr. Felix made the call, and he IS the criminal 
that needs arrest!” Mr. Felix did not know 
what to say.
The head of the police officers was surprised. 
“You mean he called us to come arrest him?
 In my 20 years as a police officer, 
I have never seen or heard where a criminal 
calls for his own arrest.”
The CSO smiled wryly, “there is always a 
first time, officer” he said, as the handcuffs 
were clipped on Mr. Felix’s wrists and he was 
led off to the patrol vehicle.
As he was pushed into the car, the last words 
he heard were “Rot In Jail!”
He looked up and saw Mr. Ubani laughing at him…