Someone Else

Following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ

03/05/2017

Matthew 4:1-11 At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." He said in reply, "It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." Then the devil took him to the holy city,  and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test." Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve."

          I recently came across this unusual obituary in a church bulletin lately. It read: “Our church was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, his name was ‘Someone Else.’ For many, many years as part of this church, Someone Else did far more than a normal person’s share of the work. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, everybody said, ‘Let Someone Else do it.’ Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked up to for inspiration as well as results: ‘Someone Else can work with that group!’

          The obituary continued: “It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most generous givers. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone assumed that Someone Else would make up the difference. Now, sadly, Someone Else is gone. And we grieve as a parish family and we wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left us a wonderful example to follow, but who’s going to follow it? Who is going to do the things that Someone Else did? When you are asked to help this year, remember: we can’t depend on Someone Else anymore.”

          I hope you figured out that was an imaginary obituary, but sadly, that obituary could be easily applied to any church and any congregation in the world. Don’t you think? Have you heard of the famous “Pareto Principle”? It was developed by the Italian economist Wilfredo Pareto in his first paper called “Cours d’economie politique.” In 1896, Pareto glimpsed this principle in action by observing his garden very carefully, and he noticed that about 20% of the peapods in his garden contained 80% of the peas, while 80% of the peapods had very few peas. Hence the idea was born that in any given organization 20% of the people will always do 80% of the work, while 80% of the people will only accomplish 20% of the work; the so-called “80/20 rule.” That is, 80% of the people say, “Let Someone Else do it!” If I’m totally honest with myself, I know I’ve said those same words many times myself, “Let some other priest do it!” You see, I believe Someone Else is not dead but alive and well.

          In today’s gospel, we hear the very familiar story of Jesus being tempted by Satan for 40 days in the desert. However, if you look closely at the interaction between Satan and Jesus – like Pareto looked closely at his peapods – you’ll actually hear Satan saying, “Let Someone Else do it!” That is, let Someone Else be the Savior, while you, Jesus, take it easy. Go ahead and change stones into bread and eat your fill; let the angels catch you when you fall, and enjoy the riches of this world. But Jesus had studied his Italian economics, and he knew the Pareto Principle very well. He had come to earth to be Someone Else, to be the Savior; he had come to suffer and die for humanity himself; and not to pass the buck. Jesus refused to be a hollow peapod as Satan was suggesting he should.

          My friends, by now you all should have received at home a letter from me asking for your prayerful financial support of our parish. You should also have received a pledge card to use make that commitment more concrete. Now, please don’t misunderstand the point of the pledge card: this is NOT a new capital campaign. Lord knows we’ve had enough capital campaigns and I’d like a break from them as much as you would. Instead, the pledge card is to ask you to prayerfully consider how much you can give in the Sunday collection and see if you can maybe even increase your giving. If you cannot increase your gift, that’s perfectly okay, too, you’ll just have to make up for it in purgatory. (Just kidding!) Sometimes, we only think about these things when we’re forced to, so I’m sorry if you’re feeling a little forced to right now. Some of you may find it convenient to sign up for “automatic bank draft,” which helps us even when you’re out of town. I also know many prefer to keep their giving anonymous – do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing – but just make sure one hand is doing something! I have completed my pledge card and will turn it in to the office on Monday, and I made a modest increase in my donations. You’ll also find in the bulletin this weekend a “quick and dirty” financial summary from last year, 2016. You’ll be very pleased with our frugal our church staff is with your money. We’re all a bunch of penny-pinchers, and I’m the head Pincher of them all!

          Most of all, this weekend I hope you avoid the temptation to think: Let “Someone Else” give to support Immaculate Conception Church. Ask yourself today: am I in the 20% of the peapods that supports this parish or in the 80%? In the end, of course, it’s simply a matter of being like Christ: not embracing what is easy or egotistical or enriching, but offering our sacrifices together with Jesus’ saving sacrifice on the Cross.

          Let me leave you with this little lesson. A boy came to Sunday school late. Knowing he was usually very prompt, his teacher asked, “Johnny, is there anything wrong?” He answered: “No, ma’am, not really. I was going to go fishing, but my daddy told me that I needed to get on up and go to church.” The teacher was very impressed and asked Johnny if his father had explained to him why it was more important to go to church than to go fishing. “Yes, ma’am, he did,” Johnny replied sullenly, “My daddy said he didn’t have enough bait for both of us.” Folks, I don’t really care why you came to church today, even if it’s because you didn’t have enough bait to go fishing. I’m just glad you came. In the same vein, it’s not my job to police how much you give in the collection: that’s between you and God. I only urge you to be as generous as you can, and then you’ll be following the eternal example of Someone Else, that Someone Else named Jesus.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!