A STRANGE FANTASY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 29^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “A Strange Fantasy.”

Ever since I was a teenager I had this strange fantasy of what would it be like if I could jump up in the air and stay there. “Wouldn’t that be great?” I thought?

I could be playing basketball and drive towards the basket and then jump up in the air and when everyone defending me came down I would simply be still up in the air and drop the basketball into the hoop and net with ease.

On defense I could jump up in the air and when the ball was heading towards the rim I would just swat it away - avoiding goal tending of course.

And I wasn’t even 6 foot yet. And when I did play a lot of basketball I was very poor as a jumper.

DEATH

Without knowing it, that fantasy has helped me with the question of death. I understand the following very, very clearly, but I might not be able to convey my thoughts today that clearly.  Yet, let me try.

Just as I cannot not jump up in the air and stay there - so too when I die - whatever happens is totally out of my control.

So if I rise from the dead after I die, that’s a gift from God - the God who gave me life with a lot of help from my parents. I had no choice in being alive in this life - starting as a seed, an egg, a womb and a mom and a dad. So too after this life, if there is life after death, and my hope is that that there will be and my faith says there will be - it will be totally gift - because it will be out of my hands.

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings - trigger these thoughts for me once more.

Today’s Gospel from Luke 1: 13-21 talks about death. Jesus says that a man was going to die that night - but it was totally off his radar screen. All he could think of was building bigger and bigger barns.

In today’s first reading from Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul says, “It’s all gift.”

In today’s first reading from Ephesians Paul says “God, who is rich in mercy, because the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ.”

In our text there are brackets that add: “by grace you have been saved.”  I fool around with that word “grace” all the time.  Today I’m hearing “gift - gift - gift - all is gift”.

So when I die - if there is another life - eternal life with God - it will be “gift, gift, gift,” because of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures like to picture Jesus going up in the air at his ascension - and moving out of our - earthly space. There it is that jumping up into the air fantasy and staying there. Impossible - but possible because of Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul is saying.

CONCLUSION: HERE AND HEREAFTER

In preaching I like to stress the here more than the hereafter - because the here  I know - the hereafter I don’t. It’s all fantasy. It’s all imagination.

Yet it’s good to be reminded about the hereafter - especially as we heard in today’s powerful parable in today’s gospel - that you can’t take it with you - and you never know - where the hereafter for us will start.

Just as our start was out of our control, so too our ending is out of our control. Of course we can exercise, get checkups, eat right, and work at staying alive, but we know down deep, it’s still out of our control.

We can fantasy it’s in our control, but just like my fantasy of jumping into the air and staying there is just that - a fantasy. Unlike the birds of the air we can’t fly. We always have to come back down to earth - every time we jump - every time we get in a plane - every time we come down the stairs.

So the opening line of today’s gospel with a tiny revision is a great prayer. “Lord, tell my brother Jesus to share the inheritance of resurrection with me.”