That’s the guy Jesus wants

Father Ed Vanorny
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 18, 2022

There is a guy named Mike Kolin. He was linebacker at one time for the Miami Dolphins, and he tells this story about a football coach of this who asked him to do some recruiting. And when he asked what kind of guy he was looking for, his coach said, “well, you know, there’s this guy, when you knock him down and he stays down?”

Mike said, “Yes, but we don’t want him, do we?”

“No,” his coach said. “But there is this guy when you knock him down he gets back up, but then you knock him down again, and he stays down.”

And Mike said, “Yeah I know one of those too, but we don’t want him either do we?”

“No,” his coach said. “But there is this guy, when you knock him down. He gets up. You knock him down, and he gets up again. And he gets up again, and again, and again.”

And Mike said, “Yes, I know a guy like that! And that’s the guy we want right?!”

And his coach said, “No, not him either. But I do want you to find the guy that keeps knocking the other guy down because that’s the guy we want.”

And that’s kind of what Jesus is saying.

As Jesus tells this story, we would logically think that the managers boss finds out what he’s done, he would haul that guy off to court. But here Jesus introduces the surprising twist. Jesus has the wealthy man congratulating this guy and giving him credit for his cleverness and his ingenuity in looking out for himself.

So, what’s the point Jesus is making? The answer is what he says about worldly people who take initiative, more initiative than other worldly. Which means that Jesus is looking at the wealth of energy and resources that worldly people put into their efforts to get ahead and to be successful. And Jesus is saying, “that’s the kind of guy we want!”

And Jesus is asking each of us: if you can be so energetic and so devoted, and you can sacrifice so much in getting things done in your secular lives, can you also be just as committed and responsible in developing and enriching your faith lives and the lives of those whom you love?

And if the answer is yes, and I do hope it is, then what do we need to do to be the faithful Christians and Catholics thank God calls us to be? Because that’s the guy Jesus wants.