Tattling hurts others

Even grownups tattle on each other sometimes -- and not for good reasons. In this week's Gospel (John 8:1-11), we hear about some people who went tattling to Jesus.

The people who didn't like Jesus tried to trick Him into saying something against the law. They brought Him a woman who was caught sinning and said, "The law says we should kill her. What do you think?" But Jesus just said, "Whoever has never sinned themselves, throw the first stone at her." The people felt ashamed and left. Jesus told the woman, "Go home, and don't sin any more."

When you're feeling mean, you might tattle on a kid in your class because it makes you feel good to get him in trouble. It's not a nice thing to do, but you do it anyway.

The people who didn't like Jesus tattled all the time. They tattled to Jesus about a woman who sinned, hoping to get her in trouble. Then, if Jesus told them to leave her alone when the law said to punish her, they were going to tattle on Jesus to the police!

After you tattle, you might feel guilty. You thought it would be fun to get someone in trouble, but now you're sad that he's getting punished. You probably do the same thing you tattled on him for!

That's what Jesus showed the people who came to Him. When they tattled on the woman who sinned, Jesus reminded them that everyone sins -- and it's not nice to tattle.

Sometimes it's okay to tattle: When your friend is doing something that might hurt her or someone else, you can tell a grownup. But the tattling the people did to Jesus wasn't to keep people safe; they wanted to hurt the woman. Jesus showed them that tattling to hurt someone just makes you feel bad in the end. Jesus never called anyone "tattle-tail!"

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, teach me to tattle only to help people, not to hurt them. Amen!

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