Art of the Deal

Learning how to cut a deal with God

03/11/2017

Deuteronomy 26:16-19 Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."

          Have you read President Donald Trump’s famous book called The Art of the Deal? If you haven’t, don’t feel bad, I haven’t either. But I did a little research on it and found that he elaborates 11 principles for concluding a good business deal. I think you’ll find them fascinating, especially since he’s now the 45th president of the United States. Trump lists the following 11 steps as crucial to “the art of the deal” – (1) Think big (like becoming president), (2) Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself, (3) Maximize your options, (4) Know your market (like who was voting last year), (5) Use your leverage, (6) Enhance your location (I can’t believe he doesn’t have a luxury hotel in Fort Smith), (7) Get the word out (send tweets at 2 a.m.), (8) Fight back (send tweets at 2 a.m.), (9) Deliver the goods, (10) Contain the costs, and (11) Have fun. Now, please don’t think I want to make this a political homily – far from it.

          Rather, whether you agree with the president on these principles, or have your own guidelines, it’s undeniable that negotiating with others – indeed, any human relationship – is an art from. All negotiations require as much intuition and imagination as they do math and masters’ degrees. My dad taught me that if you’re going to buy a car, always be willing to walk away. That’s part of “the art of the deal.”

          Our Scriptures today give us a glimpse of the artistry needed to cut a deal with God. The first reading from Deuteronomy says plainly that God wants to negotiate a deal with us, stating: “Today you are making this agreement” – a deal – “with the Lord: he is to become your God and you are to walk in his ways, and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees and to harken to his voice.” And what’s God’s end of the bargain in this deal? Deuteronomy adds: “God will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all the other nations he has made.” Not a bad deal!

          But in the gospel Jesus reveals more of the art of the deal with God. He says, “I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  In other words, the difference between human negotiations and divine deals is that humans are hungry for what they get out of the deal, but God is only interested in what he can give in the deal. That’s the art of dealing with God: not “maximize your location,” or “fight back,” or “use your leverage,” but rather sacrificing everything, and generosity in giving. You could almost say that the whole Bible was written to teach us “the art of the deal” when negotiating with God.

          Today ask yourself: how am I dealing with others and how am I dealing with God? Again, this is not a political homily. I believe Trump’s book has its own logic and legitimacy in the business world. But it does not translate easily into our dealings with each other and with God, where another paradigm and other principles are at play, namely, giving rather than getting. Consider these two examples. Fr. Tribou told us boys at Catholic High School that when you come to Mass you come to “give something” rather than to “get something.” But how often do we catch ourselves saying, “I didn’t get anything out of that Mass!” That’s the wrong art of the deal. When you think that way, you’re not an artist, you’re still painting by numbers. Recently, a mother was lamenting her problems at home with her husband and her kids, and she asked me: “Am I supposed to make myself miserable, so that everyone else can be happy??” And I looked at her in the eyes and simply said: “Yes. Yes, you are; because that’s what Jesus did: he made himself miserable so that everyone else could be happy.”  That’s the right art of the deal.  Now, you’re painting like Picasso and Rembrandt.

          Folks, Lent is the time to renegotiate a deal with God; to read the “small print” and understand again the “terms and conditions” of our agreement with God. This deal is based on giving and grace and generosity, not on greed or getting or earthly glory. Lent is the time to learn again the art of the deal.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!