Family Movie Devotionals: Tangled

After Rapunzel leaves her tower in Tangled, Flynn brings her to a place called the Snuggly Duckling. It’s a restaurant filled with big, tough, scary looking guys. These big thugs are intimidating, and they almost scare Rapunzel into going home. But she shows them a little bit of kindness by asking about their dreams. After a fun song about their dreams, they end up helping Rapunzel. Her little act of kindness helped us see that all these big, scary villains were actually perfectly nice people with hopes and dreams.

Most people who are grumpy or mean are actually just hurt or scared. Most bullies make other people feel bad because they don’t feel good about themselves. Sometimes all these people need is for someone to be kind to them. We see this happen in a Bible story about Jesus and a man named Zacchaeus. Let’s read the story:

“Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:1-10)

Zacchaeus was a tax collector, which in that time meant that he was a very bad guy. He stole money from people and everybody hated him. So when Jesus came to his town, he had to hide up in a tree just to see him, because he couldn’t go into the crowd. When Jesus saw him, he showed him kindness that Zacchaeus had probably never seen. After Jesus showed him ove, he was so sorry about all the money he had stolen and he gave half his money away to people who needed it. The kindness and love of Jesus changed Zachhaeus’s life so much, that he started showing the that same love and kindness to others.

We can do that, too. We can spread the love of Jesus around to the people who need it the most. Bullies who make fun of us need the love of Jesus. Really grumpy people need the love of Jesus. Even a mean and scary guy with a hook for a hand who wants to play piano needs the love of Jesus. And when people experience the kindness of Christ, their whole life changes.

Discussion Question:
Who do you know who needs to experience the love of Christ?