ABSTRACT
How did Jesus, in realizing the truth of the kingdom of God, characterize the mystery of giving? Its defining characteristic, he said, is that it be done freely: without calculating, counting, reckoning or hoping for something in return. But there was nothing abstract about this definition for him. Such freedom defined the receiving and giving characteristic of his own life and death. He freely accepted water, for instance, from a despised Samaritan woman: one to whom he freely gave the knowledge of who he was (John 4: 7, 25). When he asked that we give without calculation or reckoning, his own responses to others provided the template for this. Indeed his life epitomized that of ‘a god determined to hold on to nothing’; not even his life. For, ‘embarrassed at the prospect of possession’, he held on to no power with which to resist those who laid hands on him – either for their healing or ultimately, for his own death.
