DOING IT YOURSELF

BY KATE BLAIN

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Jesus, help me remember it's okay to ask for help OR to "do it myself!" Amen.

Jesus healed the sick and taught a crowd of 5,000 people about God. When it got late, the Apostles wanted them to go home and eat, but Jesus said, "Feed them yourself." "We only have five loaves of bread and two fish!" the Apostles argued. So Jesus blessed the food and passed it around -- and suddenly there was enough for everyone!

"I want to do it myself" is something most kids say all the time. You want to show you can do more grown-up things, to feel proud of yourself for finishing things without an adult jumping in to help.

Of course, there are also times when you don't want to do things yourself at all -- for example, when your parents tell you to unload the dishwasher or take out the garbage. "I can't do it!" you protest. "I'm tired. It's gross. I can't reach the shelves to put dishes away."

The Apostles often acted like they wanted to do everything themselves, since they followed Jesus and felt they knew a lot about God. But, when a problem came up like the one in this week's Gospel (Matthew 14:13-21), they ran to Jesus to solve it!

In the Gospel story, Jesus had been teaching a huge crowd for hours. They were tired and hungry. Jesus told the Apostles to feed them; He probably wanted everyone to share whatever food they had.

But the Apostles panicked. They didn't want to "do it themselves; they wanted Jesus to fix the problem with a miracle.

It's hard to tell what happened -- whether Jesus created extra food or inspired people to share what they'd brought -- but He did suddenly make sure there was enough food for the whole crowd.

That was one time the Apostles didn't have to "do it themselves." But Jesus also made sure they knew that, with help from God, they could!

07/31/08