Repaying A Gift

One of the Ancient and Asian cultures’ uniqueness is repaying goodness – If someone gives us $20 for our birthday, we must pay back a gift of equal or greater value. My mother took this cultural uniqueness to an extreme level. Whenever someone visited us and gave us a gift, she wrote the gift in a small book. Similarly, when people brought gifts to my sisters’ weddings, she wrote those monetary values down. When it was her turn to visit those people or attend their children’s weddings, she checked that book and gave them something more than they had given her in gifts or monetary value.

Jesus had been invited to a feast. As he entered the house, he said to the guest,

“When you give a breakfast or lunch, do not invite your friends, brothers, relatives, or rich neighbors, lest they repay you by inviting you. Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, handicapped, crippled, and blind – they’ll praise you because they can’t repay you [with a fine feast].” (Luke 14:12–14a)

This might have surprised the host. S/he might have invited Jesus because Jesus was a friend or a relative. Perhaps s/he invited Jesus because Jesus was a famous teacher and people admired him, or that s/he was a recipient of Jesus’s healing. Whatever the reason was, s/he had an important lesson to learn – invite those who can’t repay his or her kindness in this world. (This included not inviting Jesus, especially if the host expected something in return, like a favor in his kingdom.)

The host would have been surprised. But Jesus didn’t leave him or her without any repayment. He said,

“S/he will repay you in the resurrection of the righteous people.” (Luke 14:14b)

The repayment – as expected in Ancient and Asian cultures – was different. It wasn’t an immediate payment of meal or kindness; instead, it was set for the future – when God’s rule came and the righteous people were resurrected, they would receive the reward for their work.

This teaching taught the hearers the importance of not doing a good thing to receive something in return in this world. Instead, it taught them to serve those who can’t repay. But such people would repay – only in God’s kingdom when the righteous people are resurrected.

The lesson for us is simple – don’t do good, hoping to get a payback! We serve, give, and help with God’s rule in mind. Perhaps we will be rewarded in this world or the next. Regardless, we help to help without any expectations. That’s difficult to do, but the Lord wants us to do that.