10-Sep-23 (Matthew 18:15-28)

What do you do when someone does something you don't like -- something that makes you feel bad? [Allow for answers]
Jesus said, that when someone does something that hurts you, that you should go and talk with them and tell them about it. You can explain how it makes you feel and why you'd like them not to do that anymore.
"But what if they don't listen? What if they keep on doing it?"
Well then Jesus said that you need to talk to a few other people about what's going on and, if they agree, you can all go to the other person and talk to them again. You can again explain why this hurts and why you'd like them to stop.
"But what if they don't listen? What if they keep on doing it?"
We then Jesus says you should keep some distance from them.
The thing is, we usually get this wrong. Sometimes we go right from getting hurt to trying to find ways to hurt the other person. That not only doesn't help but it makes us just as bad, just as hurtful as they have been. Sometimes, we go and talk to some other people, but all we do is complain and say bad things about the person who's hurt us. Again, that's not only not helpful, but when we do that, we're being hurtful ourselves. Sometime we keep going back to the person until one of the other of us decides to use violence to make a point. Again, that's not helpful. It's harmful.
What Jesus told us to do is really the only way to handle being hurt without becoming hurtful ourselves.
Let's talk to God about that.

God, we thank you for Jesus, who showed us how to love even the people who hurt us. We know it's not easy to do that, but we ask you to help us. Help us to turn things around and be helpful instead of harmful.
We pray in Jesus' name.
AMEN.