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Jesus and the Apostles were praying when He asked them, "Who do other people say that I am?" The Apostles said, "Some people say you're John the Baptist, or Elijah or another prophet." "But who do you think I am?" Jesus asked. Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the one sent by God."

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me be careful not to share a story unless I know it's true! Amen.

Just because you "heard it around" doesn't make something true. Kids and even adults are always sharing stories and news they heard - but you never know whether someone got the story wrong in the first place, so the next person is sharing something untrue without even knowing it!

Jesus proved how easily that can happen in this week's Gospel (Luke 9:18-24). He and His closest friends, the Apostles, were hanging out together when Jesus casually asked, "Who do people say that I am?" He wanted to know what stories were going around about Him.

Of course, all the stories were wrong. People had mixed up Jesus with John the Baptist, with Elijah and with prophets - all good people, but not the Son of God.

There's a difference between spreading rumors and gossip on purpose, and sharing a story you heard that you think is true. Any story you share could turn out to be wrong, so a good rule is that unless you hear news from the person the news is about, don't pass it on! "I heard that..." can turn out to be hurtful when what you heard isn't true.

Jesus probably suspected that the news going around about Him wasn't true, so He started to correct it Himself. Luckily, the Apostles had already figured out who Jesus really was. All He had to do was ask, "Who do you think I am," and they answered right away: "You're the Messiah, the savior, sent from heaven by God."

Sometimes, you hear a story and you can tell it's probably not true, so you don't share it with anyone else. It's easy to imagine the Apostles correcting people who were sharing the "news" that Jesus was really John the Baptist or Elijah. They would only share the good news: that Jesus was the Son of God, and He had come to bring everyone closer to God![[In-content Ad]]

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