Getting away with it

Jesus, teach me to be helpful to kids I might look down at, instead of hurtful! Amen.

Some people were trying to trap Jesus into saying they could break the law, so He'd get in trouble. "Teacher," they asked, "should we pay taxes to Caesar?" Jesus looked at a coin and said, "Whose picture is on this?" "Caesar's," they said. "Then give Caesar what's his, and give God what belongs to God," Jesus told them.

Sometimes, classmates get away with doing bad things just because they're "special" in some way. A big kid hurts a smaller one; a popular kid makes fun of a loner; a classmate who's great at sports sneers at a more awkward one. It's not right, but it happens.

In this week's Gospel (Matthew 22:15-21), some people try to get Jesus to fall into the trap of thinking He's better than others, so He and His followers should get away not paying taxes like everyone else. But Jesus is too smart to agree with them!

Some kids get away with being hurtful because they think their size, talents, money or friends make them more powerful. They think it's okay to do bad things just because they can get away with it.

Jesus could have done that. He was the Son of God; He could do miracles; lots of people followed Him. If He'd wanted to, He could have gotten away with whatever He wanted to do -- hurting people, threatening them, telling His followers to break the law.

That's not what He did, though. Jesus knew that being powerful is scary to other people; sometimes, it makes people want to hurt you before you can hurt them. (That's why some kids cheer when a popular or rich kid gets in trouble.)

Instead, Jesus used His popularity to teach about being good. He reminded people that the law said they had to pay taxes to Caesar, the governor, so they should just do it.

Jesus didn't care about taxes, but about treating people well -- and kids can do the same!