God Bless You!

Matthew 5: 1-16 (NRSV)

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

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

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

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

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

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

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

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

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

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I have a cold. It’s not the sneezing kind of cold right now, but a couple of days ago it was.

And so, of course, I received many blessings that day!

A-A-A-A-CHOO!

GOD BLESS YOU!

Sniff…. Thank you!

It’s good to receive blessings.

In the middle ages, when someone sneezed, you said “God bless you” because you feared that they might have the plague. So this mantra we repeat so regularly was developed as a way to ward off the fear of evil, disease, and death.

Besides the Gesundheit types, many of us ask God to bless our food before we eat. Bedtime prayers include blessings. I can still remember my children, every night, asking blessings for many things, but always ending with “God bless mommy and daddy and all my friends, AMEN.”

The word “blessed” that we hear in today’s gospel reading, commonly called the Beatitudes, is not the kind of “blessed” that is a synonym for “lucky”. It is not the kind of “blessed” that is meant when we hear someone say, for instance, “I’ve been really blessed; I’m so glad that I can provide good cars for everyone in my family.” Or, “I’ve been really blessed with good health, so I can still get out and play a lot of golf.” The kind of “blessed” that Jesus is saying here is a Greek word, makarios, that translates best as “sacred”, or “holy”, or “greatly honored”, or “awesome”. Jesus is saying “the poor in spirit, the meek, the peacemakers, they are totally awesome. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They shall be called children of God. They shall see God. “And how awesome is that!

But, it’s up to us whether we choose to receive it or not.

When God’s blessings come to us, it is our choice whether or not to receive it. The blessing itself is unconditional. Our response to it, our consent, is not.

Mary was called out by the angel Gabriel as being blessed. The angel said, “Greetings, favored one! Blessed are you among women!” You are awesome. You are sacred, holy, greatly honored. God is honoring you greatly, blessing you by asking you to bear the Son of God. And Mary says yes. She receives the blessing

There is a poem by Denise Leverton about the Anunciation of Mary, this event when the angel comes. It reads, in part:

“But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage.

The engendering Spirit did not enter her without consent. God waited.”

It takes courage to receive a blessing. Mary is evidence of that.

It takes humility, too. When we ask for our meal to be blessed, for our families to be blessed, we are acknowledging our dependence upon God. Saying a blessing over our meal humbles us to remember that our daily sustenance comes from God.  Asking for a blessing for ourselves and our loved ones humbles us to remember that God alone saves us, God alone fills us, it is not our own doing.

So receiving a blessing requires courage, and it requires humility.

It also requires trust. Thinking back to Mary again, she could not know what the future impact of that blessing would be.  She only knew she would give birth to the Son of God. She knew nothing more about what would become of him, of the suffering he would endure, of the challenges she would face in raising him. Still, trusting in God, she agrees, when she says, “Let it be with me according to your word.”

A blessing from God is more about being used by God than it is about getting cool stuff, or having cool things happen to us.

Abraham was blessed with descendants – which, for him, was a cool thing to have, but God planned on using them.

Moses was blessed with opportunities to interact with God, but it created a whole new set of challenges and problems he could never have imagined.

So we might be asking ourselves, “do I really want to be blessed?”

Because we are blessed to be a blessing, aren’t we? The blessing is not just for us, it is never just for us. It is so that God can use us.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the humble, the meek, the peacemakers. They shall inherit the earth. They shall be called the children of God. They shall see God. Jesus doesn’t say if you will become humble, meek, then you shall. It's not something to aspire to, it's the result of your current condition. Jesus says if you already are - here and now. If you have been marginalized. If you have lost your way. If you have been humiliated. If you are mourning a loss. Then you are special in God’s sight. You are awesome. You are beloved.

The blessing is there for us to receive. Jesus is speaking to the people who have come to listen to him. The disciples, the townspeople, the people he grew up around in Nazareth. They were humble people, meek, basic laborers.  He is offering them blessing, telling them that they, in fact, are blessed, by virtue of the lives they lead, through no choice of their own. Theologian David Lose reminds us that Jesus is  proclaiming that God regularly shows up in mercy and blessing just where you least expect God to be – with the poor rather than the rich, with those who are mourning rather than celebrating, with the meek and the peacemakers rather than the strong and victorious. If God shows up here, Jesus is saying, blessing the weak and the vulnerable, then God will be everywhere, showering all creating and its inhabitants with blessing.

But, like Mary, it is their choice to receive the blessing. It is our choice to receive, to accept, to own and to live into the blessings that God offers us.

Taking an idea from David Lose, I’d like us to take back the mantra of “God bless you”, and let it signify not fear, but joy, not disease, but delight, not death, but God’s new light. I’d like us to think of a blessing as an insight that God is a God who delights in creating, and blessing, and redeeming, and to be reminded that we are God’s own beloved and blessed children.

So if you are not already doing so, slide over or move up or back a row so that everyone is sitting next to someone else. Pair up. Then I’ll tell you what I’d like you to do next.

It’s time for us to turn to one another and share God’s blessing. That means to give it and to receive it.

Turn to the person next to you, and take turns saying to each other,

“God bless you!” (just as if they had sneezed…)

OK?

Now say to each other,
“You are God’s beloved child.”

Done?

Now say to each other,

“God calls you awesome!”

Now say, “God comes to you right where you are, to bless you.”Be sure to say it to each other, take turns.

OK, one more.

“God’s blessing waits for your consent.”

Amen.