Taking risks

This is the text of the homily I preached today.  Today's readings, the 2nd Sunday of Easter, are here.  If some of this feels like deja vu, it's because I based this content on a post from yesterday - if I'm not mistaken, that's the first time I've posted something here at NewGathering and then had it turn into a homily.

Have you heard the name James Holzhauer?  At present, he’s getting his 15 minutes of fame as a winning contestant on the television show “Jeopardy!”   It’s possible some of you may even know him: he attended Naperville North High School.  Holzhauer isn’t just a winner; he has won the quiz show 17 days in a row, which is remarkable.  But even more remarkable is the amount of money he’s piling up.  So far, he has earned over a million dollars.  He has proven adept, not only at winning the show, but winning in a way that maximizes his earnings.  He now holds the top seven spots all-time for highest daily winnings on the show.  

I watch “Jeopardy!” from time to time, and I’ve noticed that the contestants tend to come from brainy professions: a lot of them are teachers, lawyers or technology geeks.  But Holzhauer has a different working background: he’s a professional gambler.  He earns his living by going into Las Vegas sports books and betting on sporting events. 

It turns out that his gambling background gives him advantages when he plays “Jeopardy!”.  I had thought for many years that the key to success on “Jeopardy!” was simply to know more facts and trivia than the other contestants, and buzz in before they do - and there is something to that: Holzhauer is one of those persons who seems to know everything.  But there is also a wagering aspect to the show, and shrewd wagering has been the secret of Holzhauer’s success.  His strategy is to accumulate as much cash as possible early in the show by choosing the highest dollar-amount questions at the bottom of the board, even when there are easier questions for lesser amounts still on the board.  Once he has some cash, he places big bets on the Daily Double questions and the Final Jeopardy question. 

It seems that Holzhauer, the professional gambler, is much more comfortable betting enormous amounts than the typical “Jeopardy!” contestant.  He told an interviewer that most contestants are too risk-averse.  He drew an analogy with football, noting, “There’s times in a football game where a team goes for a big TD pass.  If you don’t take a risk like that, you’re not going to win.  Really, the big risk is never trying anything that looks like a big gamble.”

Isn’t that an interesting insight?  “The big risk is never trying anything”. It’s a sort of a paradox: we think that, if we don’t take chances, we’re being risk-averse; but this young man from Naperville has figured out that when we live safe, risk-averse lives, when we never take a chance, never put ourselves out there and put things on the line, we’re the ones taking the biggest risk: the risk that we’ll live lives in which we never accomplish anything.

You may think that this philosophy has not application to Christian faith, but if that’s what you think, then I’m here to tell you, as nicely as possible, that you’re wrong 😊.  The disciples in today’s Gospel story are being risk-averse: they’re hiding from the authorities in a locked room.  In doing so, they’ve managed to imprison themselves.  Then the risen Jesus breaks into their self-constructed prison.  He gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit – and then he tells them to leave their prison cell.  He sends them out.  He says, “As the father has sent me, so I send you.”  That word “send” is important.  The word “apostle” means “messenger” or “the one who is sent”.  When Jesus’s followers are locking themselves away, they’re not really being his followers.  Followers of Jesus don’t lock themselves away; they are sent; they go forth.   

Jesus is telling his followers to leave safety behind.  We followers of Jesus are called to go out into the world, to take chances, to take risks. 

One of my high school religion teachers said something once about risk that has stuck with me.  He said that getting married is a risk.  He talked about how, when he graduated from college, various friends of his got married, even though they didn’t have jobs lined up yet.  He marveled at their willingness to take that risk.  He approved of his friends taking a chance on love.  And he’s right.  Whenever we love someone, we’re taking a risk.  Saying “I love you” to another person is a risk.  We’re putting ourselves on the line.  There is a chance that our love will be rejected, or that the person we love won’t be faithful to us.  For some of us, that risk that our love won’t be returned is a reason not to love someone, to refrain from putting ourselves out there.  But that’s to enclose ourselves in a locked room.  To love, we need to leave that room.

I’m pretty risk-averse.  When Therese and I had been dating for some time and I finally proposed to her, people naturally asked, “When will you get married?”  The question terrified me because it meant making a commitment to something from which there was no turning back.  One time, after we had agreed that we would get married, but before I had actually given her a ring, we were shopping at a shopping mall, and we passed by a jewelry store.  I asked Therese, “Would you like to go in?”  She said, “Yes.”  So we went in.  The store clerk immediately sized us up as an engaged couple, and took us right over to where the diamond rings were.  We looked at the rings, then at the clerk, then at each other.  I said, “Do you want to get out of here?”  She said, “Yes!”  And we got out of there as quickly as we could.

Luckily for me, love won out, and I took the risk – eventually I bought her a ring and we set the date.  My wedding day was the happiest day of my life, and being married is the greatest blessing I’ve had for over 30 years now.  I’m so glad I took the risk to ask Therese out for that first date, and then to take the chance to propose to her.  For me, those risks have been rewarded.

 

We live in a world that is starving for Good News.  And we have Good News: Jesus is risen from the dead, and by rising has broken the chains of sin and death.  The world needs to hear about that.  And the world needs love – the tired, cynical world, the angry, rage-filled world needs to hear someone say, “I love you”.  We have love to offer.  Let’s leave our locked rooms.  Let’s take some chances.  Let’s go give the world some Good News by loving it.