HELP PEOPLE… HELP THEMSELVES
2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15
We have many and conflicting requests for help. For instance, you are working on a critical task and someone needs help. You return after a hard day at work and your child has a project/ needs a drop/ is unwell.
Jesus experienced something similar.
Today’s gospel opens with him going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee after John’s beheading to avoid danger or to grieve over his loss. He cannot be by himself: the crowds follow him; he is faced with an unexpected demand, an intrusion on his privacy.
We usually counter such situations in one of two ways: ignore these calls that conflict with my plans/ needs or (if I’m someone who cannot say “no”) always put aside my plans and respond though I cannot/ do not want to respond. Neither response is appropriate; neither is the one that Jesus made.
Jesus had compassion on the people and satisfied their hunger. But it is important to recall two points.
First, Jesus did not wave a magic wand to produce food. He asked the disciples to provide for the crowds and worked with the “five barley loaves and two fish” which they gave him. He drew on their resources!
Second, he “withdrew again to the mountain alone” because he did not want to make the people dependent.
Sometimes compassion is helping people by giving them resources and oneself. More often, compassion is helping people find their own resources and themselves.
An anecdote to end! A girl was watching chicks hatch. A dozen chicks were huddled under the mother hen; one egg was unhatched. She could see a little yellow body pulsing and struggling through the cracks in the shell. The kid picked up the egg and peeled the shell. The chick gasped and stopped breathing.
The little girl ran to her mum with tears in her eyes and told her what had happened. Her mum explained that each chick must struggle to break through its shell; it becomes strong through that struggle. She concluded: “There are some things that you cannot do for others; they have to do these themselves.”
Will I, sometimes, reach out to meet people’s needs, and at other moments “withdraw” so that they become independent? Will I discern when to help people and when to help them help themselves?
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