Don't let bullies win

Jesus, help me stop bullies, whoever they're trying to hurt! Amen.

Jesus went into the desert to pray for 40 days. He had no food, and He was hungry. The devil came and said, "If you're God, why don't you make the rocks into bread?" But Jesus wouldn't. "Bread isn't the only food," He said. "Listening to God is a kind of food, too!" The devil tried again. "I'll give you the whole world if you'll follow me," he said. Jesus answered, "God is the one people should follow." Finally, the devil took Jesus to the top of a building. "If you're God, jump," he said. "Angels will catch you." But Jesus told him, "Don't test God." Then the devil left Him alone.

Bullying is a big problem for some kids. Anyone who's been picked on knows how much it hurts. A lot of schools have even made "no-bullying zones" to help students remember to watch out for each other and not let others get bullied.

Jesus was an authority on stopping bullying. In this week's Gospel (Luke 4:1-13), He gets bullied by the devil -- and wins!

Bullying can mean a lot of different things. Some bullies call other kids names or start rumors about them; others even beat kids up. But all bullying is wrong.

Jesus learned that. Just when He was exhausted and starving from 40 days in the desert, the devil popped up and tried to push Jesus to help Himself by doing miracles.

Stopping a bully can be hard, but one thing to try is just rolling your eyes at what they say. If they know you don't believe it (no matter how many times they say it), they might give up.

That was Jesus' strategy. Instead of getting into a fight with the devil, He just kept saying the devil's ideas were ridiculous -- and eventually, the devil saw how confident Jesus was and went away!