Loving Bullies
Value: Love your Enemies
Rocco and Butch were the worst bullies in school. Every day they wandered the
halls and everybody tried to stay out of their way. Sometimes they beat up the
boys but more often, they pulled girl’s hair or teased them until they cried.
Nobody knew what to do about Rocco and Butch so everyone just learned to stay
away from them but if they did catch you, you should cry right away because that
made them happy and they would go to the next person to bully.
One day a new girl started school in the fifth grade. Her name was Holly and the
rumor went around fast that she was the daughter of the new Pastor at the
Methodist church which was the biggest church in town. Cindy and Holly became
friends right away and Cindy knew she had to warn Holly about the bullies pretty
fast but it was too late. As Cindy turned the corner in the halls to her locker,
she saw Rocco and Butch beginning to bully Holly. They were teasing her and
laughing but Holly didn’t cry. “Cry Holly, cry.” Cindy whispered under her
breath hoping Holly would get the message but she didn’t.
The bell rang and soon the halls were filled with kids and everyone was running
out to the bus or to get picked up by their parents in the pick up line so Cindy
didn’t get a chance to find out what happened. But the next day she ran up to
Holly as soon as she saw her. “Holly, I saw you talked to Rocco and Butch. I
wanted to warn you about them. They are really mean bullies. So be careful.”
Holly just smiled a big happy smile and said “Ok Cindy. Don’t worry.”
Rocco saw Holly at her locker before Butch did. “Hey Butch, there’s that new
girl.” He commented.
“Something is different about her.” Butch said. But they walked toward her their
usual scary walk that usually made kids run away. “Hey it’s the preacher’s kid.
I bet the preacher’s kid is the worst kid of all. That’s what they say about
preacher’s children you know.” Butch taunted her. That’s when Holly did
something so unexpected that both bullies just froze in place not knowing what
to say.
“Oh hi Butch. Hi Rocco. I was hoping to see you today.” And she gave them the
biggest smile either of them had ever seen. Her smile was so pretty and full of
friendship and love that they were paralyzed. “Oh, I saw you had a snickers bar
in your pocket yesterday Rocco.” She continued. “We have a bunch of those so I
asked mommy if I could bring you some and she said yes and she said you sounded
like super nice boys and you can come over to play video games at our church
youth night this weekend if you want to.”
Then Holly put a candy bar in each boys hand and hugged them both and ran off to
class singing a happy song and skipping.
“What just happened?” Rocky said finally, when he could speak again. Butch
didn’t know but he liked it. Then when they recovered their senses, they saw
what seemed to be the whole school staring at what just happened and how a
little blond girl caused the meanest bullies in the school to stop in their
places and she hugged them and skipped away singing.
The next day was more amazing yet. Instead of wandering the halls, pushing
people’s books out of their hands and pushing girls down, Rocco and Butch went
straight to Holly. And instead of those mean smirking ugly smiles that meant
they were going to hurt her, they glowed as she talked to them. Cindy watched in
the amazement as Holly talked to them for several minutes during the lunch hour
and at the end she hugged them again and the two bullies went outside and didn’t
bully any people for the rest of the day. That way Friday, so everyone was so
curious about what was going to happen on Monday.
Monday was so amazing it was almost impossible for the kids and even the
teachers to believe. Rocco and Butch showed up in regular clothes, not bully
clothes and they were smiling and even seemed a little shy. But when they saw
Holly, they ran to her and hugged her. Cindy saw this and thought she even saw
Butch cry a little bit. The bell rang and they went to class. After class, she
finally got a chance to talk to Holly.
“What did you do to Rocco and Butch, Holly?’ She asked eagerly.
“I loved them.” Holly answered happily. “They are really very sweet. I will
introduce you to them at lunch. Rocco is way funny.” She giggled.
“You loved them?” Cindy said in amazement. “But they are bullies.” She objected.
“The Bible says to love your enemies and you know what amazing thing happens
when you love your enemies Cindy?”
“What?”
“They stop being enemies and then you don’t have enemies any more. That’s what
my daddy taught me and what he preaches every Sunday and he does that because
that is what Jesus taught.” Holly continued. “I invited Rocco and Butch to
church and youth group and Sunday night they accepted Jesus and they are going
to join our youth group and instead of using their talents to hurt people, they
are going to learn to go on missions trips next summer.”
And just as Holly said, Rocco and Butch not only stopped being bullies, they
because the most popular boys in school. In fact, no bullies could do anything
in Cindy’s school because Rocco and Butch knew all the bullies and wouldn’t let
them hurt people and started sharing Jesus with them.
“How did you have the courage to love them, Holly?” Cindy said with awe.
“It doesn’t take courage Cindy.” Holly answered. “Its what Jesus wants us all to
do so if you obey him and share his love with others, they will follow Jesus too
and before long, everybody will love God and serve him. Wouldn’t that be so
cool?”
And Cindy had to admit. She saw it work with Rocco and Butch so what Jesus
taught about loving enemies proved to be a truly miraculous teaching that Holly
showed everybody how to live out at their school that year.