Do The Right Thing

Hello Friends,

How are you doing? We are know into the eleventh day of the year and the twenty-second day of winter and most of you returned to school this past week after enjoying two weeks off to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. I can’t believe that this week, we will be halfway through January already?? It seems that life has returned to normal: normal routines, normal bedtimes, normal amounts of homework, normal everything… I bet some of you wish you were still on Christmas Vacation!

Now that Christmas and the celebration of the New Year has come and gone, we move into a new season for the church. We move into a season where we travel with Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist until he is crucified on the cross and then raises from the dead three days later on Easter. However, something takes place. Last week, you were introduced to the three Wise Men or Magi. And these characters actually help us understand who and what Jesus is, which is important as we travel with Jesus for the next few months. So today, I want us to think of the Wise Men as a group of people who help us to do what is right. Let me explain…

What would you do if you were walking home from school and found a bag that you discovered contained a lot of money inside of it? Would you tell your parents and report your find to the police, or would you say, “Wow! This must be my lucky day?” What do you think the right thing would be to do?

Hear this story: Hector Rodriguez is a 15-year old high school student. One day, Hector found a bag of money on top of the soda machine. In the bag was $120. He took it to his teacher and the two of them went to the principal’s office to turn in the money. When asked why he turned in the money instead of keeping it, Hector said that he was concerned that the student who left the bag would get in trouble if he lost this money.

Hear this story: Eddie McLaughlin was walking home one evening when he found a bag on the sidewalk outside of a store. He picked up the bag, looked inside, and saw that it contained a large amount of money. When Eddie got home, he told his wife about finding the bag of money and together they counted it. There was over $4,000 in the bag. Eddie called the police and told them about the money. It turned out that the manager of the store had dropped the bag while closing up, and without a doubt, he was happy that it was Eddie McLaughlin who found the money.

Hear this story: Driving home from work one night, Jason Baxter crossed a well lit intersection and saw what he thought was a book lying in the road. He stopped and picked it up. It turned out to be an appointment book with zippered pockets. Looking in the first pocket, Jason found six dollars and a driver’s license. When he opened the second pocket, there was a big wad of cash! When he arrived home, Jason counted the money. There was more than $9,000 in cash. For some, the decision might have been difficult, but not for Jason. He called the police and reported his find. When asked why he turned the money in, he answered, “It was just the right thing to do.”

When we hear stories like these, it may make us stop and ask ourselves, “What would I have done if I had found all of that money?” To find the answer to that question, ask yourself, “What would I do if I found a dollar on the floor beside my teacher’s desk?” You see, honesty is not a question of how much money is involved, it is a matter of doing the right thing.

One day Jesus told his disciples a story about a rich man who had a manager, and the manager was using the man’s money for himself. The rich man discovered that the manager was wasting his money so he called him in and fired him. After telling this story, Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” If we make sure that we are honest in the small things, then we can be sure that we will be honest in the big things. If people know that they can trust us in small things, they will know that they can trust us in the big things too.

Returning to the Wise Men. When they told Herod that they were following a star to Bethlehem to see the one who many have been calling, “The King of Jews,” Herod got upset because he was king. No one should be more powerful and righteous than King Herod. But there was one person, and that person was Jesus. The Wise Men, after being told to return to King Herod so that Herod could learn of Jesus’ location so that he could praise him, received instructions in a dream to return home a different way. Instead of going back to Herod, who wanted to get rid of Jesus, the Wise Men went home a different way to protect Jesus. The Wise Men did what was right. They listened to God.

Jesus invites us to do what is right. It won’t always be easy, and sometimes we will want to return home on the same path that we travelled; but, Jesus needs us to do what is right and not always what is easy. It would have been easy to keep the money, it would have been easy to return to Herod, it would have been easy to not forgive someone, it would have been easy not to share with someone. But Jesus doesn’t want us to do what is easy; he wants us to do what is right.

So, will you do what is right from now on?

Let us Pray: Dear Father, help us to remember what Jesus taught about honesty and help us to be honest in every situation — big or small. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Your Friend, Holy Spirit!

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