Expecting Nothing In Return (Luke 6:35)

 

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Psalms 110; 111

Genesis 28

Luke 6:27-38

Expecting Nothing In Return (Luke 6:35)

There is a social phenomenon you may have noticed, which seems to come about when people get to the age when they have to start thinking about aged care. That is, while people seem (generally) more than happy to help others, they find it much more difficult to receive help. Maybe we all have a little bit of the pagan mindset leftover somewhere in the back of the mind; a sort of karma-style system, where if we are good to the universe, then the universe will be good to us, and if we start taking, then we will run dry.

But, as Christians, we don’t believe the universe runs off some impersonal life force, operating on arbitrary principles of right and wrong that seem less like morals and more like a series of cogs and pulleys. We know that, in fact, there is a personal God who made the universe, and has a set of morals that are absolute and unchanging. If we follow those morals, then we will live better, not because the cosmic scales are in balance, but because that is the way God made us to be, and God loves us, wants us to be happy, and so has told us how we ought to live.

Jesus’ words today, then, seem absolutely off-course to the pagan mind. Give, give, give – and expect nothing in return. The only point at which Jesus talks about what we get is when he tells us that the measure by which we judge others will be the measure by which we ourselves are judged. These are hard words – not hard to understand, but hard to swallow. They are hard words to live by. And yet, here they are: the One through whom the universe was made has given us explicit instructions on how to live in accordance with our Creator.

Living like this is difficult. Love, in this sense, is less of an emotional state and more of a duty, or heavenly obligation. So how do we do it? Let us remind ourselves of who it is that is speaking these words. Jesus, who is God, did not consider his Godhood something to be snatched, but rather humbled himself and came to us in the flesh. He gave himself – and as we have been following his life through Luke’s gospel, we see that he gave himself without holding back. He has given you everything: his life, as an atonement for sins, and for us so that we may reign with him forever. He has given us everything, without expecting anything in return; but his Father did give him something in return. In fact, he gave him everything in return, including you. This is the way God works; this is the way he expects his creation to work; this is the way we should work.

What is your attitude towards the things in your possession? Who is ultimately responsible for giving them to you?

Generous God, everything good we have has come from you. Teach us to hold the things of this world lightly, so that we may live as a reflection of your Son, the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ.