Healing a hurt

Most kids have made fun of another person before. You don't like the sweater a girl in your class wears, so you tease her. You think a boy is too fat, so you call him names. Then you think about how mean it was and feel sorry, but it's too late to take it back.

The people in Jesus' time would know how you feel. Some of them thought Jesus was crazy and dangerous for teaching about God, and the He should even be killed for it. In this week's Gospel (Luke 23:1-49), they get their way -- and find out they were wrong.

The people who hated Jesus said He was starting a war, so Jesus was arrested and brought to their rulers, Pilate and Herod. Both found Him "not guilty," but the people begged until Pilate let them take Jesus away to be killed. As He walked up the hill to be crucified, many people cried because Jesus was going to die, and even a thief crucified with Jesus said He was innocent. But a few hours later, Jesus cried, "Father, I put my spirit into your hands," and died. And then the people said, "This man did nothing wrong."

Some kids make fun of others to feel better about themselves. You want to feel pretty, so you tease someone you think is ugly. You want to feel smart, so you laugh at a kid who can't read very well.

People who didn't like Jesus did that, too. They wanted to think they knew all about God, but Jesus said they had a lot to learn. They got Him arrested so they didn't have to say Jesus was right.

After you tease someone, you feel sad that it's too late to change what you said. Jesus' enemies felt like that. After He died, they saw that Jesus was God's Son -- but it was too late. He was dead!

If you made fun of someone, you can't take back those words. But you can say you're sorry and tell the other kids that you were wrong. After Jesus died, people saw that He was God, and some of them said so. Then lots of people started to believe in Jesus.

Those people learned what you can learn: If you hurt someone, you can't stop the hurt -- but you can help heal it!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me to never tease other kids, because it hurts them, hurts me and hurts you! Amen.

(04-02-98)

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