China

Mr. and Mrs. Sun were peasants in rural Anhui province. Too poor to make their home out of bricks, they lived in a wood­and-mud shed. They farmed some thin fingers of land that stubbornly yielded millet beans and turnips, though rarely enough to feed them fully. It was a bad year, and they did not have enough food. One day Mr. Sun placed all the beans they owned into a jar and said to his wife, “We must eat only three beans a day and give seven to the boy. If God does not send us any food, we must sell him.”

His wife blanched at the terrifying prospect of selling their son. She knew men combed the countryside offering vast sums of money to buy sons from poor families and give them to rich city people. But she saw how listless the child had become and simply said, “It may be the best chance we can give him. We don’t want him to die with us.”

One day a man visited their house. He took a look at the boy and said he would pay them 10,000 yuan for him and fix it with the authorities so that they could have another child if they wanted to. Mr. Sun haggled and eventually the man, in a bad temper, said, “All right. I will return this way in two weeks’ time with 30,000 yuan. Have the boy ready.” He stomped out.

The Suns felt a mixture of excitement and horror. After all, it was the answer to all their problems. On the other hand, what kind of home would their boy end up in? Eventually Mrs. Sun said, “We must pray about this. We must be sure this is what God wants.”

The next day Mr. Sun was working when three of his neighbors approached him. They said, “We hear you are selling your son for 30,000 yuan. Your Jesus God can’t be very good if he can’t save you from the disgrace of selling your own son.”

Mr. Sun hurried home and told his wife. At once they realized if they sold their son, their witness would be ruined. A terrible choice lay before them. They could choose to keep their son, starve, yet honor Jesus, or they could sell their son, live handsomely, but make Jesus a laughingstock.

After two weeks the man returned. He counted out the money in front of their eyes – a massive bundle of dirty notes. But Mr. Sun gave them back, saying, “We have decided not to sell our son.”

The man turned away, muttering that they were crazy. As they picked out their ration of beans for the day, they wondered if they were. But the next day, two of their neighbors came to see them again. In complete silence, they handed over 200 yuan in grubby notes. Mr. and Mrs. Sun gasped. “Where did you get this, and why are you giving it to us?”

One neighbor explained, “The man who came to buy your son stayed with a local family last night. He told us what happened and when he left, we found this money. We think he left it for the host. But we have decided to give it to you.” The other neighbor added, in words that made their hearts burst with joy, “You see, we respect what you did.”

Mr. and Mrs. Sun were safe for the year. They had enough money to buy food for the winter and give their son a better diet. But even more importantly, both knew that the cause of Jesus Christ was safe for another year in rural Anhui.

Open Doors, Brother Andrew with John & Elizabeth Sherrill, The Narrow Road, Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 2001, p. 230,231.