Puppets: Pray for Your Enemies

PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES

Moe: (Grumbling)….not fair….grumble grumble….always picking on me…..grumble grumble….just because I’m different….

Mooster: Well, howdy Moe!  You’re here early. You all ready for Bible time?

Moe: ratsum fratsum grumble bumble….

Mooster: Huh? Um….Moe? You okay?

Moe: NO! I am most definitely NOT okay. There’s a kid in my class that I just can’t stand. (Starts crying) In fact, I… I… I HATE him!

Mooster: WHAT??? Moe! Shame on you!! You should never say you hate anybody!

Moe: (still crying a little and sniffling) Mooster, you just don’t understand! He’s so mean to me. He picks on me all the time. He’s always calling me names, like “banana brain” and “long tail” and “Moe the Toe”….he’s just plain mean. He picks on me because I’m the only monkey in my class.

Mooster: Well, it’s mean of him to pick on you, but you shouldn’t say you hate him.

Moe: Well, but …that’s how I feel! He hurts my feelings every day! I don’t know why he picks on me. Sometimes he takes my lunch money. If I bring a bag lunch he tries to smash my bananas. Sometimes he rips pages from my books. He hides my gym shoes so I’m always late to gym class and then I get in trouble for being late. He even painted all over my art project and ruined it. It hurt my feelings a lot because I was going to give it to my grandma. After he ruined it, I couldn’t, and I had to work hard to make something else.

Mooster: Have you told your teachers or your parents?

Moe: Mooster, I can’t tattle on him. That will just make it worse for me. He’ll be all the meaner. Plus, then everyone will think I’m a huge tattletale or call me a baby and they won’t want to be my friend anymore. There’s nothing I can do except let him make me sad and miserable.

Mooster: It’s not right for you to be bullied like that. You SHOULD tell your teachers. You can tell them you don’t want him to get in trouble, because you are afraid he’ll be even meaner to you. You just want them to know what he’s doing so maybe they can watch and catch him being mean to you or ruining your stuff or taking your things. If they don’t even know this is happening, they can’t help you. If they catch him bullying you or someone else, then he’s just getting himself in trouble – you are doing the tattling.

Moe: Well…..I guess I could try that. I hadn’t thought of just asking them to keep an eye out for me. If they don’t say anything to him that I told on him, then maybe he won’t figure it out and it won’t be worse for me.

Mooster: You should also tell your parents. That’s what moms and dads are for! They love you and want to help you. But if they don’t know someone is bullying you, then they can’t help you!

Moe: Yeah, I guess you’re right about that too.

Mooster: Now, there’s one more thing. You need to stop hating him.

Moe: What? Why in the world should I stop hating him?

Mooster: Moe, have you accepted Jesus as your Saviour?

Moe: Yep – I sure did! About two years ago. Why?

Mooster: Because the Bible tells us many times that we should love those that are against us. Matthew 5:44 says, “But I say unto you --Jesus is speaking here -- love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Luke 6:7 says about the same thing, “But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.”

Moe: But that stuff is HARD! How can I do all that? Why would God tell me to do that?

Mooster: Do you know that you may be the only Bible someone ever sees? If you return meanness with more meanness, do you think that is how Jesus would do things?

Moe: Um….I don’t know….

Mooster: Yes, Moe, you do know. What did Jesus pray when He was on the cross?

Moe: He prayed to God the Father and said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Mooster: That’s exactly right. They were cruel to Jesus – beating him, and pulling out his beard, and sticking thorns in His head, and hanging Him on a cross to die.

Moe: Yea but Jesus had to go through death to save us!

Mooster: You are right, He did. But He didn’t deserve it – we did. Jesus took our punishment for us and asked God to forgive those who were hurting him.

Moe: Ohhh….yeah….

Mooster: Also, if Jesus had been mean to people, do you think anyone would have listened to Him?

Moe: Probably not. People came to hear Him speak because He was so different. He cared about people. The Bible says lots of time that He was moved with compassion and then either healed people or fed people.

Mooster: Yep – and if we are like Christ, then people will see Him in us. That’s one of the ways that we can witness to people and help them see their need of salvation.

Moe: Well….I guess that makes sense. Okay. I won’t be mean back to him.

Mooster: And, there’s something else.

Moe: MORE????

Mooster: Yep. You need to pray for him.

Moe: WHAT!?

Mooster: Moe, if you pray for someone every single day, did you know that you will eventually stop hating them? You may not like the deeds that they do, and they may be doing things that go against what the Bible teaches, but you can still show them love and kindness. The Bible says in John 3:16 that God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus to pay for our sins. That’s a lot of love. So if we follow Christ, we must try to love others  - even those who are not kind to us.

Moe: Pray for him every day? Wow. I don’t know…

Mooster: If you pray for him every time he’s mean to you, he may stop. Just tell him you are praying for him. Right there. Tell him, “You are being mean to me, but I want you to know that Jesus can make you love people. I’m praying that God will change your heart.” It might take a long time for him to see things differently, but in the meantime, God will bless you for praying for him.

Moe: And praying makes me feel closer to God, too. I always feel better after I talk to God!

Mooster: Me too.

Moe: Well, Mooster, will you help me memorize Matthew 5:44? That verse sounds like it will help me remember to pray for him. Do you really think it will make him stop being mean to me?

Mooster: If he sees that you are always returning his meanness with kindness, then he may very well ask you one day why you are being so nice to him. Then you can tell him about Jesus. I can’t guarantee you that he will stop being mean or that he will get saved. But I can tell you that you will be doing what Christ would want you to do. And I can tell you that you will be making him think about his actions. We can’t control what other people say or do, but we CAN control how we respond. And if we are Christians, we need to respond in love, even if the other person is acting in hate.

Moe: Okay, Mooster. Thanks! You’ve really helped me a lot!

Mooster: Kids – do you ever have other kids treat you mean at school or bully you or pick on you because you wear glasses or are a different shape or size or color? Children can be very mean to each other sometimes. We need to make sure that WE don’t behave that way toward others. And we can pray for those who do mean things to us.

Moe: Thanks, Mooster! Bye kids!!

Mooster: Bye Moe! Have a great week kids!!