"He gave us what is His"

Written originally on December 8, 2020

Jesus took everything that is ours and gave us what is His.

Many times people think that their experiences and thoughts are unique only to them, that no one can understand their pain. I have amazing news, GOD himself KNOWS your pain and He CARES for you!

This verse is sung throughout the Friday Theotokia, as we sing “He took what is ours, and gave us what is His, let us praise Him and glorify Him, and exceedingly exalt Him.” Now to the regular listener, this is a rather common cliche. We know as Orthodox Christians that God came down, became man, died, and rose. What is new here?

Today the church celebrates the commemoration of the Annunciation, Nativity, and Resurrection. Now between the Annunciation and the Ascension of Christ is a period of 34 years of so many life changing events that Jesus experienced.

Now thinking about this, it is obligatory for us to understand that Jesus experienced our every moment. Jesus is closer to us than we are to ourselves! He loves us more than He loved Himself and this love took him through the pains of pregnancy, ridicule from his people (and family), and eventually the cross. He chose to go through it all in order for us to be saved and in order for us to have an eternal life in Him.

The only way Jesus could have saved us is if He fully immersed Himself into our human experience. And what a wonder it is, for He is the one who created humans and gave them the ability to do all the experiences they think are unique to them! So He took our humble, broken, and humiliated state and raised it with Him to higher, more elevated moral principles.

When He gave the commandments to His servant Moses on Mount Sinai, He commanded the people “Do not kill, steal, lust, lie, or covet other’s possessions.” But when He came down to us, He elevated our weakness to make us more powerful, stronger, and more reasonable. Instead of telling us not to kill, he said that every word that we utter without use deserves condemnation! How many of us speak ill of others in order for us to justify our hatred? When he said don’t lust, he added to it that only one look can make your heart fall into lusting for someone or something. By this, he, the author of life, deepened our understanding of what it means to live life, then he committed himself to live by what he said until he died for our sake and rose mightily out of the grave.

My brothers and sisters, see what kind of love the Lord loves us with, that he chose to walk in our shoes all the way to Calvary, only to tell us that out of His infinite love, we are saved through Him. To You, my good master, be the glory forever.

Your brother in Christ,

Mena Basta