He didn't do it

Jesus, help me to just tell the truth instead of trying to get people in trouble. Amen!

As Jesus was dying on the cross, people made fun of Him. Even a criminal being crucified at the same time yelled at Jesus, "Save yourself and us!" But another criminal said, "Shut up! We're getting what we deserve, but Jesus didn't do anything wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Remember me when you get to heaven." Jesus promised, "You will be with me there."

Kids know all about being accused of things they didn't do. How often does a kid at school get in trouble and say, "It wasn't me; it was him!" -- and point to you? Then your brother hits your house with a football and cries, "Well, you were throwing the ball, too!"

The biggest example of this unfairness is Jesus. All He did was teach people about God, but He ended up being accused of trying to start a war with the government and become king of the country. For that, He was sentenced to die by being hung on a cross. We hear about that in this week's Gospel (Luke 23:35-43).

The first thing most kids do when they're accused unfairly is to defend themselves. They protest and try to get the kid who really did something wrong into even worse trouble. They also look for other people to defend them, asking friends to tell what happened.

Jesus didn't do things that way. When He was accused of crimes He didn't commit, He didn't say, "I'm innocent! Go ask my friends!" He didn't demand that everyone He knew get up and tell what really happened. He didn't even protest at being unfairly accused.

Jesus just told the truth. He said He was the Son of God. And in the end, a lot of people realized He hadn't done anything wrong. Telling the truth is a good idea for kids, too. If you calmly say what really happened, it's a lot better than trying to get other kids in more trouble. Like the criminals Jesus met, they're probably hurting and scared enough already!