I
started out by asking: “Have you ever been caught red-handed doing something
you weren’t supposed to do?” Every one
of the kids nodded in affirmation to that one.
And before I could ask any follow-up question, one the younger brothers
pointed a thumb to his elder sibling and offered, “He didn’t do his homework
when he was supposed to.” Well, there
you go. He just jumped ahead to the
point I had hoped to make at the end of the exercise. But before I could continue, the classic PATM
(Pay Attention To Me) Syndrome kicked
in, and we had some other offers to confess.
I
decided to go ahead with the plan and asked the second question: “Have you ever
done something you shouldn’t do and didn’t get caught?” Now the adults in the room, and especially a
few of the parents, leaned forward in their seats, anxiously awaiting any
answers that might arise here. This time
it was the older kids who sheepishly nodded.
A few offered the “I’m not gonna raise my hand all the way, but I will
wiggle my wrist high enough to let a piece of paper slide in under it and if you
see it, then fine, but if not, that’s all you’re gonna get” responses. None of the jumped up and offered to reveal
their deepest secret, so I just leaned forward and whispered: “What was it?” OK. I
know you are all scrolling ahead to see what possible horrible secrets may have
arisen. But let me assure you, we have
no confessed secret serial killers among our children at Seaside. There were a few notorious “didn’t really
clean my room-ers,” but I promised I would keep their secret.
The
final question was where I wanted to go in the first place: “Have you ever done
something you shouldn’t do and didn’t get caught, but then someone told your
parents and you got in trouble?” Now you
see why that very first little brother answer was so insightful. In fact every one of the older siblings
immediately looked at his younger counterpart.
Even the only children were quick to rally around this horribly unfair
happening. It was easy to get an answer
to the inevitable follow-up: What do you call someone who does that? And that brought a resoundingly unanimous cry
of “Tattle-tale.”
Finally,
the transition I was hoping for. We did
a quick clarification of the difference between a tattler and a teller? A Tattler tries to get someone in trouble
or get attention. A
Teller makes sure someone
doesn’t get hurt (like if you saw your little brother pick up a sharp knife).
That
established, I did a quick summary of the Bible story. It was about some people who caught a lady
doing something wrong and brought her to Jesus to see what he would do. They wanted to punish her by throwing rocks
at her. Jesus knew she had done wrong,
but he loved her and wanted to give her another chance. So he told the ones who brought her, “Whoever
has never done anything wrong, you throw the first stone.” And guess what happened? Every one of them knew he had done something
wrong, so they all walked away. Jesus
told the lady to go home and to not keep on doing those wrong things.
You
know what? Jesus loves us too, even when
we do wrong things. He wants to give us
another chance, though, so when you do something wrong, admit it and ask for
forgiveness. And every chance you get,
be a teller, not a tattler.
John
8:9-11 says, “At this, those who heard
began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was
left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman,
where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, sir,’ she said.‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’”
Jesus,
Thank you for second chances. Help us to
give them as well. Amen.
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