Blessed

Someone told me once that I come down awfully hard on social media…and that’s probably true; so brace yourselves, because I’m going to do it again today.

Well, not as much bash social media, but the way we use it.  I’m sure your minds immediately envisioned posts that are filled with all sorts of things:  political statements, hurtful comments, argumentative words meant to bait us…but that’s not what I have in mind this morning.  This morning, I want to talk about a singular word in particular that gets thrown around way too easily and inappropriately and even became one of the most used hashtags of last decade; that word is blessed. 

If you open your favorite social media platform and search for #blessed you would never run out of things to see.  It’s human nature really to share the good in our lives with everyone we meet.  But do we know what the word blessed actually means?  I’m not so sure we do.

I have news for you:  if someone buys you a new Tesla, you are not blessed, if you win the lottery you are not blessed, and if you pass that test that you didn’t study for you are not blessed.  I will concede, however, that you are #blessed, thanks to our culture’s hijacking of that term.  The word blessed actually means holy, sacred, divinely or supremely favored.  We have turned the word blessed into a way to brag about something openly under the guise of remaining humble.

If we look at the words of Jesus this morning, we are given a far different picture of this word blessed.  Jesus tells those who have gathered to hear him speak, informing them that those who are truly blessed are the ones who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful, those who are pure in heart and bring peace, these are who can call themselves blessed people. 

None of these things really sound particularly like things that we would associate with this word blessed, because as we mentioned before, we have twisted the word blessed to reflect upon possessions and achievements; I think maybe we didn’t create this phenomenon, either, because as Jesus continues, he reminds us to rejoice and be glad for these blessed people, their reward is great in Heaven, lending me to think, based on this comparison, they may have made the same word association we do.

Thinking about what Jesus tells us that word actually means is very confusing; being meek, destitute, and mournful are quite the opposite of what we envision when we think of the word blessed.  While I think there is some literalness to this Sermon on the Mount, I think it illustrates to us more of who we are to be as followers of Christ.  We are to be people who don’t allow the pursuit of things impede our work.  If we are doing this work right, there will be days when we are poor in spirit, times when we mourn, and when meekness is the only disposition we can muster.  Being people who hunger and thirst for righteousness (that righteousness not being for ourselves but for others), those who seek peace and mercy, will surely be misunderstood by our culture and you are sure to garner persecution.  This is one of those situations where the easy and acceptable thing isn’t the right thing. 

So today I ask you; are we people who live into the beatitudes?  Are we people who commit ourselves daily to leading a life of true blessing, living in compassion, simplicity, and peace?