At Thanksgiving we pause to give thanks for the many
blessings we have as well as feasting to enjoy those blessings. This makes it a
good time to think about what it means to be ‘blessed’. We have recently been
studying the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 on Sunday mornings, which begins
with some unusual ‘blessings’: we are said to be blessed if we are poor in
spirit, or meek, or merciful, or if we mourn, or are pure in heart. These are not the kinds of blessings we are
usually giving thanks for. We say we are
blessed when we are prosperous, have a good job, have good health, and have
well behaved children. Certainly those
are things we desire but they are focused on our own comfort more than our
character or ministry to others.
Some translations of the Bible replace the word ‘blessed’
with ‘happy’. I think this misses the
point completely. The passage is not about being happy. It is about having the
right kind of character and about spiritual well-being. While the Greek word used
in the text can be translated ‘happy’, Jesus was Jewish and the idea of
‘blessed’ is not a Greek idea: it is a Jewish concept. ‘Baruch’ is the Hebrew
term that goes with the idea, and it is the start of many Jewish prayers and
appears hundreds of times in the Old Testament. Jesus is talking about an old
Jewish idea, baruch, and that is the idea we must understand in order to
understand the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew is simply seeking to translate that Jewish concept into Greek.
The Jewish people were the ‘elect’ and that was a great
blessing. They were blessed. Yet, that very blessing made them accountable in a
special way and also led to suffering. Similarly, when Mary took Jesus to the
temple for His dedication, she was blessed by Simeon (see Luke 2). That
blessing involves Simeon praising God for having lived to see the Messiah but
also the blessing he gives includes telling Mary that ‘a sword shall pierce
your own soul also’. The blessing
included suffering. This is a different idea from ‘happy’. Using ‘happy’ in the Beatitudes instead of
‘blessed’ strikes me as a case of what C.S. Lewis called ‘verbicide’: killing
the meaning in the word.
The Biblical idea of blessing has to do with being put in a
special position, a position of special favor but also special responsibility. The
eldest son typically received a special blessing from the father before the
father died to pass on the inheritance, but with that blessing came
responsibility to care for the extended family. At this Thanksgiving, it is
easy for us in America to focus on our material well-being due to the economic
difficulties, though our spiritual
health is suspect. As a nation, we have
special responsibilities to use our blessings for good and not just for our
comfort. Let us be thankful for the
opportunity to do good with the abundance God has given.
