Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We all like to do "fun" things, but there is one kind of fun that hurts other people, and that is making fun of them because of their physical handicaps, or because of their color, or their race, or their culture. People usually make fun of other people behind their backs; and often children do it just as much as adults.
For example, there's a child in school who is disabled, or has muscular dystrophy, or walks in a strange way (we say a "funny" way). So other children mimic him or her. Or a child has a weight problem, and just doesn't have the slim athletic body that everybody admires. Or there are some things that a child just doesn't know about, and we make fun of him. This can be very cruel.
Please read Mark 15:16-20, about Jesus. He has been arrested, been tied up with chains, and taken to the governor Pilate, who has agreed to abandon Him to be crucified. Now read what Mark says in the Good News Bible:
"The soldiers took Jesus inside to the courtyard of the governor's palace and called together the rest of the company. They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny branches, and put it on His head. Then they began to salute Him: 'Long live the King of the Jews!' They beat Him over the head with a stick, spat on Him, fell on their knees, and bowed down to Him. When they had finished making fun of Him, they took off the purple robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him."
You may say, "Those men didn't know He was the Son of God, so they are innocent." It's true that Jesus prayed for them, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
But the point is, it's wrong to do that to any human being in the whole world, no matter if you don't know who he is. And Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Matt. 25:40). We have all been guilty of making fun of helpless people. Let us repent and choose never to do it to anyone again. The Good News is that if we make that choice today, the Holy Spirit will save us from doing it again.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: 1994 Phone Message.
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