Immanuel Lutheran Church - Benson

While he was saying this, [about unclean spirits returning to those who cast them out unless the unclean spirit is replaced by a clean spirit] a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!”  But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”
Luke 11:28

What does it mean to be blessed?

When someone says, “Bless you!” after you sneeze, do you feel any different?  Did your soul get crammed back into your body (as is the joke about your soul escaping during a sneeze, which is the reason why polite people say, “Bless you!” after you sneeze)?

When you come to church, and you hear the benediction (The Lord bless and keep you now and forever), do you leave feeling different?  Does that make any real change in your body or soul?

This word occurs 335 times in the NRSV, yet it is a word that I am not really familiar with.  So I will take you along with me as I explore this word, its uses and meanings, and what it eventually means for us.

So my first stop is by computer program BibleWorks, just to see how prevalent this word is.  That’s how I know it pops up 335 times in the NRSV.  I could look at other translations, but I just don’t feel like it.  The first appearance of the word is in Genesis 1:22, where God blessed the animals and the birds so that they would reproduce.  The final time it appears is in Revelation 22:14, (the conclusion to that letter) where people are blessed and allowed into the Kingdom of God.  So that’s interesting, that the word spreads through the whole of the Bible, beginning to end.  It’s not a word that one particular author used, or special to one particular book.  But that also means that the definition is going to be wiggly - after all, the word probably changed meaning and interpretation over the thousands and thousands of years from Genesis to Revelation.  So what is the definition of the word? 

According to one of my dictionaries, to be blessed actually has two definitions.  The first, and most common use of the word, refers to God’s state of being.  “Blessed be God!” is according to this book a traditional Jewish worship response and call.  I’ve heard it too in songs like “Blessed be the God of Israel.”  The second definition refers to human beings which is to be in a state of happiness, well-being, and in God’s favor.  But “Blessed” seems to be a variation of the word “Bless” (both can be nouns or verbs or adjectives - it’s really hard to place them in English grammar structure outside of particular usage). 

So, according to this same dictionary, “Bless” has two meanings as well.  It is primarily used in reference to what humans do to God: to acknowledge the wonder and majesty of God in light of all that God has done.  ”Bless” can also be used in reference to things or people, but this dictionary makes an interesting point that it is not that the object or person takes on special significance, but that to bless an object is to thank God for giving it. 

The second definition of “Bless” refers to what God does to humans, granting us special gifts of property, land, possessions, or spiritual goodness.  Humans can bless other humans in this way as well, giving property, land, possessions, or even spiritual goodness through sharing what we know about God!  (Take that, confirmation students all over the world - you’re getting blessed whether you like it or not!)

It seems then, that in this passage from Luke, Jesus and the unnamed woman in the crowd are trading these definitions of the word and deed.  This woman wants to grant special benefits to the woman who bore Jesus, presumably unknown to this particular woman.  We know the story of the woman who bore Jesus, Mary, and we know for sure that she was blessed by God.  Mary says so herself, in Luke 1:48 (”Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed…”). 

Jesus, though, contradicts this woman.  Really?  Is he saying that Mary wasn’t really blessed?  I don’t think so.  I think Jesus is refocusing this woman and the crowd back to what he was talking about.  After all, this event takes place on Jesus’ walk to Jerusalem, his trip towards his death.  This woman in the crowd wants to look backwards, to a happier time, a pleasant memory, perhaps an innocence before all this talk about suffering and death.  In other words, perhaps, she is saying, “If you’re so smart (and you’ve shown yourself to be), why don’t you go back home to the woman who bore you and nursed you so that you could grow up and be so smart!” 

But Jesus was never one for looking back.  He looks forward, to the kingdom of God, and the sign he will become of that kingdom (hence the next story of the sign of Jonah for Nineveh and the sign Jesus will be for this generation).  At this point, Jesus is surely looking forward to the cross, but also to the sending of the Spirit on the disciples(Acts 2), when about 3000 people heard the word of God spoken through the disciples and were baptized and included as disciples of Jesus.

And Jesus is surely looking ahead to us, calling us blessed (favored of God and happy in our salvation), but also surely pointing out that blessed people will bless the Lord, remembering all that God has done for us, and using what God has given us to serve and care for others.  That is, after all, how Jesus the Word of God summarized all the words of God for us: Love the Lord, and love your neighbor.

We are truly blessed when we recall what God has done for us: the first creation, the last creation to come, our lives, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.  All this God has done for us so that we might be the blessed people, a people sent out like our Father Abraham, to be a blessing for all people (Genesis 12:1-3).  So let us bless the Lord, remembering all that God has done, and looking forward like our Lord Jesus to what God is doing next!