Nice Guys Finish First

Understanding how to run the right race

03/08/2025

Luke 5:27-32 Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

Last night I attended the youth-led Stations of the Cross, and I was very impressed. Some students spoke the stations while others acted out the scenes and steps of our Lord’s passion and death. At one station, Dc. Charlie said something that hit me squarely between the eyes. He said, “People say that nice guys finish last, but I guess that depends on which race you are running.”

I took those words to mean this: if you’re running the rat race, nice guys do indeed finish last. But if you’re running the right race, nice guys always finish first. John Maxwell, a leadership expert, once said: “You don’t want to get to the top of the ladder of success just to find out it is leaning against the wrong wall.” That is, in life run the right race, and climb the right ladder.

In the gospel today, we hear the stunning story of the conversion of Levi the tax-collector. We know Levi is the Hebrew name for Matthew (the Latin name) for the evangelist who wrote the first gospel. And the reason his conversion from tax-collector to teacher of truth is so stunning is because Jesus simply utters two words, “Follow me,” and Levi immediately drops everything.

In other words, Jesus showed Levi/Matthew he was running the wrong race, and climbing the wrong ladder. Levi didn’t mind finishing last in the rat race – making lots of money – because he discovered it was the wrong race. Let me give you a couple of examples of how we, too, like Levi, might be running the wrong race, or the rat race, and fear finishing last.

I saw a post on Facebook attributed to Pope Francis, which was falsely said to come from him, but it still made a good point. The quote has a smiling Francis and begins, “Eat whatever you want for Lent. The sacrifice is not in the stomach but in the heart.” The supposed papal mandate continued: “They refrain from eating meat, but don’t talk to their siblings or relatives, don’t visit their parents or bother to attend to them.”

Now, the pope never said that, but it was shared over 700 times on social media. But regardless of social media scams, wise Catholics know the purpose of bodily sacrifice, like abstaining from meat or fasting from food, is so we strengthen our wills to do good, like loving our neighbor. I say “No” to greed so I can say “Yes” to generosity.

By the way, I watched with wide-eyed amazement the desire – no, the obsession – of Catholics to get their ashes on Ash Wednesday. But I wondered where are those same Catholics on Sunday to receive the Eucharist? They would rather have a smudge of ashes than the Savior Almighty. That is called running the wrong rat race, and those Catholics will one day discover, let’s hope very soon like Levi, the ladder they are climbing is leaning against the wrong wall.

A second example of running the wrong rat race is what I am sharing in my Lenten Theology of the Body talks. Last Monday I gave the first presentation and I will provide four more on Mondays at 6 p.m. If you miss any of the presentations, don’t worry, we are also recording them and making them available on Facebook, where you can now find the first presentation.

It is difficult to summarize the whole Theology of the Body of Pope St. John Paul II even in five presentations. But one way to put it in a nutshell might be to say that many married couples (perhaps most) approach marriage in effect like running the wrong rat race. Of course, we are called to love our human spouse “for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, until death do us part.”

And that is true to a point, but it is also in a sense the wrong rat race. What does that mean? Well, the underlying purpose and goal of marriage to a human spouse on earth is to help us get ready for our eternal marriage to our divine Spouse, Jesus in heaven. That is why you can marry again after your human spouse dies. That is, keep practicing!

Obviously, it is  heart-breaking when you have marriage problems, or even divorce. But don’t freak-out. Earthly marriage is just a life-long marriage preparation program to prepare to marry Jesus. Human marriage is what Pope St. John Paul II calls a “pedagogy” a teaching, a formation program. And so the real race is falling is love with Jesus and finally marrying him in heaven. And in that race, nice guys finish first.

Praised be Jesus Christ!