Strangely Blessed
Luke 6:17-26
February 11, 2007
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
We are a blessed people -amazingly, abundantly blessed! This past October and November as we were invited to adopt the spiritual practice of writing or at least making a mental list of at least five new blessings we experienced each day, many of us found great joy in recognizing just how blessed we truly are. As one of you said to me, "This blessing thing is great fun!" Even so, if life threw you a curve ball and you lost your job, had your home and your car repossessed and found yourself on the street begging for a handout so you could eat, I somehow doubt that any of those things would make it on your list of Blessings I Experienced Today. Or, if death or divorce robbed you of someone you dearly loved or some disease or tragedy stole from you a cherished part of your physical being and you found yourself weeping, day and night, in inconsolable sorrow, I rather doubt that those events would make it on your Blessings list either.
So, what did you think when you heard Jesus' list of blessings?
You're blessed when you've lost it all.
You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry.
You're blessed when the tears flow freely.
Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me.
These are strange blessings indeed, aren't they? So, what=s going on here? What is Jesus trying to teach his disciples? And even more importantly, what might Jesus' words have to say to us?
When I was a child the interpretation I remember hearing was something like, "You may suffer in this life, but in the sweet by-and-by -that is after your dead- God will take care of you and there you will have all the blessings you have been denied in this life." But, I don't think that's even close to what Jesus wanted his followers to understand when he gave his strange list of blessings..
So, what is Jesus trying to say here?
Well, perhaps the first thing we need to remember is that in Jesus= day the popular religious belief was that wealth and success came as blessings from God because of one=s faithfulness and devotion to the religious law of the day. The opposite was also true, if a person was poor or hungry, or if they suffered great sadness and grief, those were seen as punishments from God because of that person's sinful behavior or life-style. Witness Job's friends following the loss of his wealth and his family. First they say that Job must have sinned to be the victim of such calamity. When Job denies this, they go on to say that it must be his children=s sin that brought such devastation to the family. Failing to convince him of that, they then return to their first theme, demanding that he admit his wrong-doing and repent. Or listen to the words of Jesus' own disciples when they see a man born blind: "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" [John 9:2]
We are no strangers to this kind of thinking are we? When severe illness or calamity strikes, how often have you heard people say -or perhaps even said or thought yourself- AWhat did I do to deserve this?@ And when disease or calamity strikes those defined as sinners, there are some who are certain that such troubles are a much deserved punishment from God. Do you remember the preachers who said that the events of September 11th were God's punishment because our country allowed homosexuality and abortion? Or those who claim that AIDS is God's wrath poured out on homosexuals because of their sinful life style. That's most emphatically NOT the kind of God I serve and I don't think it's the kind of God Jesus came and comes to show us either!
You're blessed when you've lost it all.
But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry.
And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself.
You're blessed when the tears flow freely
And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games.
Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me.
There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others,
There is no doubt about it, to us as well as to those listeners on the plain so many years ago, these words are shocking. But that, I believe, is exactly what they are meant to be. These words of Jesus are meant to catch our attention, stop us in our tracks and invite us to question our assumptions about who is blessed and who is not.
Jesus presents us with a radical reversal of the way we think life is -or ought to be. And in so doing, he invites us to embrace a new way of thinking. In these proclamations, as well as in many of his parables, I believe Jesus encourages us to understand that blessing, true blessing, comes when we tune our hearts to the frequency of Divine love, when we release our minds from fearful doubts and place a trusting hand in the hand of the One from Galilee. True blessing comes when we experience the transforming, healing love of God and the nurturing, guiding presence of the Spirit. True blessing comes when we recognize the unseen hand of God in the faces of those who journey with us. And sometimes, sometimes we are more open to that Presence, more tuned in to the Source of All Life, more awake to the little signs of God's love when we are in the midst of life situations that we would call anything but blessings.
This came home to me recently when I received an e-mail from Marty Cetina while she and Bob were still in Virginia helping out during their granddaughter Camille's treatment for cancer. Her message contained what she called her Learnings During Camille's Illness. In her message she told me to feel free to use these whenever and however I thought they might help someone else. Her list of learnings is a true testament to the strange blessing that can come in the midst of the difficult times of life. Here are just a few of the things Marty wrote:
The power of prayer is awesome.
A circle of friends is very helpful.
Love helps one over life's tough bumps.
Ask for help.
Share your fears.
Know that God is with you - you are not alone.
Small things matter.
Listen more than talk.
Make soup - the process and the eating of it are nourishing.
Share love - it is a great healer.
When you are in the tumultuous rapids of chaos, you realize you cannot pull to the edge and kiss your child's hurt and make it better. The best you can do is ride the rapids with them and paddle with them into calm water.
There are never too many hugs of love and support. Give and receive them openly.
Each breath, minute and relationship is precious.
As Marty and I talked, after her return she said, "I think I was open to all these learnings because of the spiritual growth I've experienced over the past several years. Through her participation in the Companions in Christ studies, Marty practiced tuning into signs of God's love and grace in the everyday events of her life. I believe that gave her eyes to see and a heart to perceive the signs of Divine Love and Grace present even during this difficult and painful time for her family. So it is that even in this time of uncertainty, fear and distress she was strangely blessed.
I believe that what Jesus wants us to grasp here is the truth that even in the midst of the difficulties of life the blessing of Divine Love is ceaselessly flowing to us. The more we tune in to the myriad ways in which God is with us, the more we allow those blessings to touch our hearts with love and fill our lives with joy. The more we dare to name the strange blessings that come when life looks anything but blessed, the more we know the presence of the One whose very presence is blessing itself.
May we be open to receive God's blessings in all the circumstances of our lives. Amen.
