If Jesus shows up and you are a sinner, ‘tis more blessed to receive than to give
The season of Advent is upon us and we are once again involved with all the requisite plans and preparations for celebrating Christmas in just a few short days. Let me invite you to reflect on the necessary preparation to experience the best that Christmas has to offer.
Luke’s Gospel presents a most helpful perspective on how the Advent season should shape our Christmas preparations with the fascinating account of Jesus’ surprise visit to the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38:42). Imagine how the visit might have unfolded if the sisters had received advance notice by some messenger’s announcement: Guess who’s coming to dinner? Do you think an advance notice would have made any difference on how these two sisters would have responded? Would Martha still have busied herself with dinner preparations? Would Mary still have sat in the living room at Jesus' feet? If you were with them, where would you be and why would you be there?
Christmas is indeed the season for both giving and receiving, but often we get the comparative value of these reversed. This misunderstanding of parents - yes even Christian parents - has been passed on to children for generations. Perhaps you also were taught as a child that when it comes to gifts, ‘tis more blessed to give than to receive. If there is a conflict between giving and receiving - if a choice must be made - it is thought best to do the giving rather than receiving. The logic for this is obvious: giving is virtuous, receiving is not. Who can argue with that? Moreover, if the choice between the two involves very important people, say Jesus; then perhaps it is even more virtuous to give than receive.
If there is a conflict between giving and receiving - if a choice must be made - it is thought best to do the giving rather than receiving.
We might imagine that this was Martha’s conviction when Jesus made a surprise visit to her house. She frantically rattled her pots and pans in the kitchen trying to provide Jesus a good meal on very short notice. And to make matters worse, she was not getting any help from her bump-on-the-log, do-nothing sister. Confident that Jesus shared her perspective about Mary, she implored Jesus: Tell her to help me! To Martha’s shock, however, Jesus did not share her concern. “Mary has chosen the good portion [meaning the better part] and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:42).
It is important to understand both the point Jesus is making and also the point he is not making. Jesus is not questioning that the greater virtue is serving or giving to others. Rather he is indicating two things. First, he is indicating that when Jesus shows up, he is always the host, because he is the Lord of Hosts. he is the Suffering Servant who has come into this world to serve, not to be served. And secondly, his indication to Martha that her sister Mary has chosen the better part - to receive Jesus and his Word - implies something very important for us to remember, especially during the Advent season:
If Jesus shows up and you are a sinner, ‘tis more blessed to receive than to give. And, of course, both were the case with Mary and Martha, and both are the case with each of us this Christmas season and every season for that matter. During Advent, the matter of giving and receiving has everything to do with appropriate preparation for the arrival of Jesus. Jesus’ rebuke of Martha was not a denial about the virtue of giving. Giving is indeed virtuous behavior. It is the essence of exercising our faith, living for others by giving in our vocational pursuits. Our Lord’s point however is this: virtuous behavior contributes nothing to overcome our problem of sin and death. Virtuous behavior will not reconcile us with our Heavenly Father. It will not grant us the forgiveness of sins. It will not overcome the sharpness of death, nor will it merit a happy forever. Indeed, all our giving and serving, even to Jesus, renders no blessings that can overcome any aspect of our problem of evil.
Our Lord’s point however is this: virtuous behavior contributes nothing to overcome our problem of sin and death.
What can we learn then from Mary as we would prepare for receiving Jesus this Christmas? What can we learn from Jesus’ unexpected visit about how to order our lives this Advent season to prepare for the coming of Christ?
Follow Mary’s example (and Jesus’ approval of it) and do what may be the most difficult thing this busy time of year: do nothing! Stop and provide some time for doing nothing. Stop all your hustle and bustle in the kitchen, at the shopping mall, at Amazon, at whatever. Put down your lists of what to do and what to give. Stop being frantic about so few days left until Christmas. Rather, during this Advent season, rest yourself at the feet of Jesus in his Word, and sit yourself at his meal, doing nothing but getting ready to receive. Get ready to be served by the coming Immanuel, God-with-us. Get ready for the receiving of Christmas. Get ready to open again your gifts of grace and mercy and be amazed and thrilled that he has come to give you just what you need: forgiveness, life, and salvation. Sit down to his prepared meal, the body and blood of the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. Feast on the Lamb and know that there is more where that came from in preparation for the Great Feast to come. And then smile at him and at one another during this most inconvenient time to do nothing. And, let us say to our children, Christmas is coming! And that means that Jesus is coming and because that is so, it will be more blessed to receive than to give!
