Blessed

 “Bless your heart.” That’s a thing we say down here in the south. It sounds nice, but it isn’t really. It’s actually a way of saying, what a doofus, or something like that. “I was late because I couldn’t find my shoes after months of a pandemic.” “Bless your heart.” Of course you’ve got to do it with that dripping with sweetness southern accent for the full effect. 

I’ve been thinking about blessedness lately. Counting blessings, being blessed, all that sort of thing. I was inspired to this line of thought by a Facebook live video I saw of Len Sweet, theologian and academic, who set out to present 12 unexpected blessings for the church from the pandemic. I only got the last 4 or so before I figure out what he was doing. I know, I could have gone back and watched the whole thing once it was posted, but I didn’t. 

I didn’t because I didn’t want to just take his ideas. I wanted to come up with my own. Or our own. Because I suggested to the worship team at Discipleship Ministries that we do this for our next podcast. We spend a lot of time talking about what we’ve lost, or what we have to do to overcome the situation. We spend a lot of time complaining, or bemoaning our lot. But what if we decided to ask where is the blessing in all of this? 

I don’t mean we should put on our rose colored glasses and declare that all is well. I know that this is a struggle, I know that there are those who are suffering, those who are grieving, those who are wondering how they will make it through. I don’t diminish that in any way. But if Paul is right when he says that all things work together for good for those who love God, then at least a part of what he means is that even in the midst of a terrible situation we can find something that works for good, something for which we can call ourselves blessed.

Let’s think about that word for a moment. What does it mean to be blessed? Some might say that it means we’ve got all we need, or maybe more than we need. We’ve been blessed with stuff. That’s a mindset in a part of the Christian faith that we call the prosperity gospel. To be blessed is to have things materially. Pray for God’s blessing is to pray for income, for reward, for stuff. There are perhaps a few verses here and there throughout the bible that could be twisted around to that sort of interpretation. But it certainly isn’t a dominant thread. 

On the other hand there are those who want to talk about blessedness as an attained state. It is something you earn, by doing things the right way, or with the proper rituals or incantations. I know that when you say it that way, of course we would say no. No one believes that. Except, in a way we do. That somehow we’ve got to deserve it, to be worthy of it. Take a look at this from Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 28:1-6 If you will only obey the LORD your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; 2 all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the LORD your God: 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

How do you read that? If you will only, it says, do this, go here, say that. Do these things that then you will be blessed. It’s hard not to read it that way. That’s how it came across to me when I read it. It’s a conditional blessing. An earn it blessing. A only if you’re worthy blessedness. Which, I suppose, is a good thing. It tells us what we have to do. If you will only obey the Lord your God, diligently observing all the commandments that I am commanding you today. 

Today? Well, back up a chapter. The commandments given “today” are about settling the land, about  where they’ll settle and who will settle. There are commandments about how to worship and where to worship. And then that chapter ends with a string of curses. Yeah, curses. Cursed be anyone who .... Who what? Well go read them. Anyone who isn’t a good neighbor, really. Anyone who doesn’t observe personal space. There’s one about misleading a blind person on the road. There’s one, a curse to anyone who deprives the alien, the widow and the orphan of justice. Yeah, that’s in there. Curses aplenty.

So curses in chapter 27 and blesseds in chapter 28. Kinda the way we’ve understood things most of the time. You want to be blessed? Do these things. You don’t want to be cursed? Don’t do those things. Simple enough. At least until Jesus. He seems to see blessings in a different way. It’s not so much a transaction as a state of being. It’s not do this or don’t do that. But simply you are. 

Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This isn’t a check list. There’s no “hey get out there and meek a little bit.” Or “maybe you ought to mourn some.” Yeah, sure, some of them we can read and say I should do more of that. But even with that, Jesus isn’t saying do this and you will be blessed. He says you are blessed. And He seems to go a long way to find something that fits everyone. He is describing what it means to be blessed. And sometimes we are blessed in states or conditions where we don’t feel very blessed. Where, in fact, we feel the opposite of blessed. 

So, then I went back to Deuteronomy. And as I reread those verses I remembered something my Hebrew professor said one day. She said that as far as she’s concerned we’ve mistranslated the commandments of God. She said that they weren’t so much check lists, or do’s and don’t, even the “thou shall” and “thou shalt not” is a mis-translation. Or at least a misunderstanding. She said that  a better way to translate them is “you are those who” and “you are those who do not.” They are descriptions. 

Maybe, as I remember Dr. Bird’s teaching, maybe Moses and Jesus were talking the same language. They were trying to cast a vision of who we are and how we live together, not giving us rules to slavishly follow. It was the Pharisees who got a little confused about that. Well, the Pharisees and us. We want a list. We want to check things off and not work things out. We want to know we’re right and not whether we’re loving. We want to point fingers at the wrong doers instead of embrace those in need of loving. 

And in the vision is blessedness. Even the parts we don’t like all that much or wouldn’t have chosen to be in. There is blessedness to be found. Blessedness to be lived. So, can you find some blessings in the pandemic and our response to it? Can you? I think Jesus would say there are blessings to be found. Come and look with me.

Shalom,

Derek