WHATCHA GET?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 8^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Whatcha Get?”

I found out that “Whatcha” can be spelled, “WHATCHA” or ‘WHATJA”.  Whatcha….

WHATCHA GET?

Whatcha get? Is that the life time question - or is it something else?

How many times have we looked at a babies skull or head or into their eyes and said, “I wonder what you are thinking about in there?”

How many times have we looked at a babies hand and we noticed it’s closed - like a fist - and we open up his or her fingers - only to discover there is nothing in there. They are holding onto nothing as if it is something.

What we don’t know - because we forgot -  is that God asks each baby in a mother’s womb from time to time, “Whatcha Get” and the baby says, “I don’t know yet, God. It’s dark and squirmy and liquidy in here. I hear sounds and I feel taps from the outside at times so I kick back and sometimes I hear ‘Ouch!’ or sometimes I hear prayers, ‘Wow! Praise God! New life.’”  That’s what I get.

What we forget is that at our first and second birthday we get all kinds of cute gifts from grandmas and aunts and uncles and cousins - and God asks us before we fall asleep, “Whatcha Get?”

And we tell God about Rubber Duckies and toys and shoes and a teddy bear and a neat hat - but we don’t want a new blanky. The one I got - I don’t want to ever forget.

Then time moves on and we forget about that inner conversation God has with all of us from time to time and now when we get home from school our mom and dad ask us, “Whatcha get in school today?”

And we tell about learning colors or letters or numbers or a neat picture book - or this new friend whom we met in the playground.

Time moves on and start getting report cards and our mom and dad ask us, “Whatcha Get?” If it’s a good mark, we’re happy to report - if its really bad - the temptation to forgery becomes every kid’s temptation.

We go to camp. We go to go on vacation. We go to a new school. We play a basketball or a Little League game. Then when we get home from time to time we still hear the question: “Whatcha Get?”

Whatcha Get? It’s the question of a lifetime.

It’s great when we hit 70 and we look back and we realize we got a lot - good kids - but especially the best husband or wife possible. It’s a bummer when life doesn’t work out - and things fall apart - and we didn’t get what we wanted.

It’s sad when the answer to “Whatcha Get?” is:  “Too many disappointments - too many hurts - too many failures.”

CHRIST

Then the day comes - hopefully long before we die - when Christ says, “I’ve been with you all these days - Whatcha Get from me? Whatja think I was saying and teaching and doing for you?”

And it’s great when we can answer: “It took some time, but I got you Lord Jesus. I got you. You are my first and you are my last.”

It’s sad when we have to say, “Well, I tried to be first and I ended up stuck in the middle or last every time. Bummer!”

Jesus laughs when we say that - because that could be the beginning of his  wisdom - especially as we heard it in today’s gospel.

It’s only when we put everyone else ahead of us - that we begin to see - first of all - that we are part of the whole human family - part of everyone else as Jesus is saying in today’s gospel. It’s a grace and a gift when we say, “When I gave up wanting everything - I got everything.” It’s then I see that everyone is my brother and sister - and we’re all children of God - and we then get Jesus on the cross. We look at his hands and we see they are empty and it’s then we realize he got the whole world. [Cf. Mark 10:28-31]

CONCLUSION

Surprise! When we die - when we’re standing on line to meet and greet God, we hear  God saying to some, "Whatcha get?" and to others, “Whatcha give?”

We step back and ask ourselves,   “I wonder which question I’m going to get.”