Receiving & Giving
Original painting
By Kathy Liu,
Holy Trinity Church
You might have noticed that the title of this short thought for us today would most commonly be phrased: “Giving and Receiving.” I once had a missionary friend gingerly ask me, “You know why Jesus said it’s more blessed to give than receive, right?...because it’s more fun to give than receive!” I was struck by his quip and immediately was able to keenly see his underlying statement: that there is a deep level of vulnerability in receiving. At times it may even be a challenge for us to receive. It’s quite obvious around a time like Christmas, when tradition says to give gifts, that this level of vulnerability we often try to skate past in our relationships. We are more than used to hearing trivial, apologetic statements on the topic, such as: “Oh, you shouldn’t have!” or "I hope you didn't get me anything but I just had to!"
I’ve been regularly reminded this year that in our lives Jesus calls us to the highest kind of vulnerability in receiving—receiving intimacy, receiving revelation, receiving challenge, receiving communion…the list goes on…He Himself showed ultimate vulnerability in the ways He modeled receiving here on earth. He received an invitation to leave heaven and come to a broken, hostile world—a world that John even describes as, “...lying in the power of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19). Jesus received a humble childhood—no fame or glory as the God of the universe—hidden among us. Finally, He received an ultimate invitation to experience a gruesome death and overcome hell itself.
In the new covenant, God Himself creates for us a flawless dynamic where giving and receiving can happen in a myriad of exciting ways. When asking us to receive in this “upside down kingdom,” where true leadership is the sacrifice of servitude, or where humility is the ultimate display of real power..God put into motion a kind of kingdom where giving and receiving can happen front ways, back ways, in tandem, collaboratively, upside down, rolling over—you never quite know what to expect! What a thrill! What a delight! To have the God of the universe give us a majestic life of adventure..Just when you are invited to fast, you feast. Just when you are called to give in the most excruciating of ways—you might actually find that you receive the kingdom of God and everything you never knew you always wanted.
This advent season, may we humble ourselves to receive deeply from our Savior King…and we might just find ourselves overflowing by accident!
“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14 )
“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” (Matthew 19:21)
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
