Help when you need it

Jesus, teach me to ask for attention and help when I need it -- and to work on my own when I don't! Amen.

Jesus saw a man named Matthew and said, "Follow me," calling him to be an Apostle. Matthew got up and followed Jesus. Later, they were at dinner with other people everyone saw as sinners, and someone asked, "Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said, "Healthy people don't need a doctor. Go learn about mercy. I came to call sinners, not perfect people."

You don't go to tutoring for extra help when you're not struggling at school. You don't go to a doctor for medicine when you're not sick. You don't eat when you're not hungry.

The opposite is also true: When you're struggling, it's important to ask for help; when you're sick, you need to go to a doctor!

Those ideas seem simple, but even Jesus had a hard time making people understand them. This week's Gospel (Matthew 9:9-13) is one of those times.

Matthew was a tax collector. He took money from people for the government, and he wasn't nice about it. He pushed them around and took more money than they could afford to give -- but Jesus made him an Apostle!

No one understood that. Why wouldn't Jesus pay more attention to people who already followed Him and did what He said?

Jesus compared His followers to people who were sick. Just as you need a tutor when you don't understand homework or a doctor when you're sick, Matthew and other sinners needed Jesus. Without help, they wouldn't learn to stop hurting others and be good.

Jesus paid more attention to them because they needed it -- and it worked. Matthew stopped sinning, followed Jesus as an Apostle and spent the rest of his life teaching people about God!