Mass Readings Audio
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2021-09-26-usccb-daily-mass-readings
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 26, 2021
Welcome to the one hundred and eighty-third episode of By Your Life. Thank you for joining me. I’m Lisa Huetteman, and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life. If you haven’t already, please subscribe via your favorite podcast host, or on the right side of the page so you’ll receive each new episode when it is posted. And please forward to a friend you think would benefit from By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It is my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace and to trust that it is good for business. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we will reflect on the readings for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. (Year B) These readings are packed with messages for us, but I’d like to focus on two: The question of authority and the question of the root cause.
Who Authorized This?
In the first reading (Num 11:25-29) and the Gospel (Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48), the disciples of Moses and of Jesus share their concern that “someone else” is doing God’s work by prophesying (in the first reading) or driving out demons (in the Gospel). They don’t think that these people have the authority to do what they are doing so they want to stop them.
Have you ever experienced this feeling at work? Someone comes in and starts making things happen and “it’s not their job!” Who do they think they are? Who authorized this?
When this happens, it is possible you are concerned about whether they are doing the “right” things and doing them “right,” and these can be valid concerns. But that wasn’t what was bothering the disciples as expressed in Mark’s gospel. John didn’t like that “he does not follow us.” (Mk 9:38) He was an outsider. The real problem was not a concern for accomplishing the mission, but who was accomplishing it and the root cause of this problem was ego.
The Power of Inclusivity
I’ve worked as a volunteer in the nonprofit world and have seen organizations with the same mission compete for resources instead of joining forces and sharing best practices to accomplish their shared mission. They were more concerned about their individual organizations’ accomplishments than they were about attending to the human need they had committed their lives to address.
I’ve also seen previously competitive organizations come together and do amazing things that they could not accomplish alone. This is the spirit of cooperation that Jesus encouraged when he said, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. (Mk 9:39-40) When people focus on the common goal or shared vision for the future and beyond self-interests, it is possible to perform mighty deeds.
Management vs. Leadership
This idea of questioning whether someone has the authority to do something is not just a concern we have for others. It is often what holds us back when we allow it to prevent us from doing what we know needs to be done. Have you ever held back doing the right thing because you didn’t think it was your job? Do you ever feel like you lack the authority to get the job done?
I’m working with a client who recently shared his frustration that he couldn’t get another guy to do something because the other person didn’t work directly for him, and he didn’t have the authority to tell him what to do. This kind of frustration is common, especially in matrix organizations or those who work in cross-functional teams. But it highlights the difference between management and leadership.
The manager has the authority to direct the work of those who directly report to him or her. A leader, on the other hand, is one who influences others to achieve great things. You don’t have to be given authority to do this, you just have to take responsibility for it.
In fact, working for someone who depends on their authority to get things done is the worst. Even if you have authority, don’t rely on it. A “because I told you to” kind of boss is a diminisher. No one likes working for them. Don’t be that person.
Instead, imagine what could be done if with a clear focus on the goal and with the guidance of your core values for how to get it done, (because the ends don’t justify the means,) you and everyone in your organization, took personal responsibility to make things happen. Or as Moses said to Joshua, son of Nun, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all.” (Num 11:29)
Taking personal responsibility is a capacity we all share, but we don’t always live up to it. We may use lack of authority as an excuse. When we fail to take personal responsibility for doing the right thing, even when no one else is doing it, for stepping up and making the right choices, for going outside our comfort zone and inspiring others to do so as well, we fail to live up to our potential as leaders and as Catholics.
Root Cause Analysis
The second message from this Sunday’s Gospel was the question of what leads us to sin. Jesus said, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” (Mk 9: 43, 45, 47) In his homily this weekend, our priest noted that we are all sinners, yet almost every one of us still has our hands, feet, and eyes, so what’s going on? Aren’t we following Christ’s teaching?
Obviously, Jesus uses these exaggerations to make the point about the seriousness of sin. There are eternal consequences so we’d better figure out what leads us to sin, to uncover the root cause so we can remove it from our life, even if it is painful to us.
In business, root cause analysis is a common practice in problem-solving. Otherwise, you end up treating the symptom of the problem, but the problem doesn’t go away. Think about weeds in your garden. If you pull up the weeds but don’t get the root, the weeds will just keep coming back again. In root cause analysis, you seek the underlying most important cause and address it.
The “Why Technique”
One way to do this is the “Why Technique.” It is a simple yet effective way to move through layers of causes to get at the preventable root cause of a recurring problem. You begin by asking why a problem occurs, and then repeatedly ask why that problem happened, until you settle on a final, most important, or root cause.
For example, let’s say that you are repeatedly late for work. Why were you late for work? Because traffic was bad. Why was traffic so bad? Because there are more cars and buses on the road? Why are there more cars and buses on the road? Because school is back in session. Why does school being back in session impact you being on time? Because it takes me longer to get to work? Why do you leave for work at the same time if it takes you longer to get to work? Because it takes me an hour to get ready in the morning. Why don’t you set your alarm to wake you 15 minutes earlier? I did but I hit my snooze alarm because I’m tired. Why are you tired? Because I stay up late at night watching TV. Now we’ve gotten to the root cause of the problem: staying up too late at night.
Obviously, this is a simplistic example and there may be many answers to a given “why” question. When that happens, follow each answer down its own path to its root cause.
What Causes You to Sin?
And what about sin? In the same way, root cause analysis can help you uncover the underlying problem that you need to work on. For example, I found myself getting short with another volunteer. So, I asked myself, why was I getting short with her? It irritated me that she kept identifying trivial (or at least what I considered trivial) problems with a plan we were pursuing. So, why did that irritate me? Because she never offered solutions? And why did that irritate me? Because I felt like she was dumping the problem in my lap? Why did that irritate me? Because I already had more on my plate than I could manage? Why did that irritate me? Because I felt like others weren’t pulling their weight? Why did that irritate me? Because if they didn’t help, then I’d have to take care of everything. And this was the root cause of the problem.
Instead of allowing my fellow volunteer to just throw out a problem and feel like it was mine to solve, I came up with questions that I could ask her and others on our team instead. How significant do you think this is? How likely do you think it is to happen? What do you think we should do about it? Who else has an idea about this potential problem? Do we need to address it or not? Who wants to take this on?
This approach not only kept me from getting short with my fellow volunteer, but it was also more productive because the more critical issues she identified were dealt with and the trivial ones just went away. At the same time, she felt like her concerns were heard and she was not just shut down by an irritated me.
This is what leadership is all about. Listening to other people’s perspectives because their experiences can help you identify a better solution, and then allowing others to use their talents and gifts to fix the problem. Great leaders don’t allow their employees to dump problems in their laps any more than a teacher would complete unfinished homework for a student. No, the teacher will help the student so they can do the homework themselves.
Helping Others Avoid Sin
Oftentimes in leadership, you confront situations where an employee comes to complain about a coworker, and they want you to fix the problem. In these situations, unless you get the coworker’s perspective and teach the two employees how to deal with the conflict, you’ll not be addressing the root cause of the problem. In fact, you may be causing “one of these little ones who believe in [Jesus] to sin” (Mk 9:42) if you don’t help them get at the root cause of the problem.
This Sunday’s readings, teach us that as baptized Christians, we all have the authority and the responsibility to help each other to eternal life. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Holy Spirit, come rest upon us so that we may perform mighty deeds in the name of Jesus. Help us to recognize and eliminate the root causes of sin in our lives and to help others do the same, so that in all that we do, at home and at work, we may glorify you by our lives.
May God bless you abundantly this week and may you glorify the Lord by your life. Amen.
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