‘Be like Mike,’ or be like Christ?

A Reflection for Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent

Find today’s readings here.

At the 2025 SAG Awards roughly a year ago, Timothée Chalamet gave a controversial acceptance speech after winning the Best Actor category for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. “I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” Mr. Chalamet said in the speech. “I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats. I’m inspired by the greats. I’m inspired by the greats here tonight.”

Critics derided Mr. Chalamet for coming off as vain and immodest, but I found myself admiring his ambition. There was something thrilling in his unabashed confidence and pursuit of excellence, as well as the fact that he might just pull it off (and arguably has already). And not just something thrilling, but something even worth emulating.

Indeed, what is wrong with wanting to be the best actor, baseball player or scripture reflection writer one can be? Nothing per se, but Jesus criticizes the desire “to be great” in the Gospel, begging the question: Is Jesus denouncing the pursuit of excellence?

The answer is probably no, with an important distinction and a caveat. First, there is a difference between wanting to be excellent at a craft for the sake of being excellent—a sort of higher, Aristotelian virtue of fully realizing our potential—versus wanting to be excellent for the external glories that come with it, whether fame, money or power.

Mr. Chalamet seems to desire some level of glory or legacy from acting, but he also seems to desire genuinely to be the best actor he can be. These motivations are hard to parse for ourselves internally, much less judge for others, so who am I to say. Plus, it could very easily be (and likely is) that both are true.

Second, the pursuit of even the right kind of excellence should not get in the way of what is most important: that we love God and love others. If the road to greatness is paved with pride and selfishness, it is better left unpursued.

But is it possible to pursue excellence without falling into these traps? Does anyone really chase greatness out of a pure desire, and what would that even look like? Our popular culture is flush with examples that suggest no (including Mr. Chalamet’s recent film Marty Supreme). Michael Jordan did not become the G.O.A.T. by being charitable and loving to his teammates much less his opponents—quite the opposite—and he seemed more motivated by a competitive desire to win than anything else. 

So, should we aim for greatness? Maybe, maybe not. Honestly, I’m more confused now than I was before I wrote this. What is for sure is that we should aim to be like Christ. Maybe greatness will follow along the way.

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