You Asked For It (III): When ‘Blessed’ is More than Cliché
Text: Psalm 1 & Matthew 5
Pastor Bob Phillips
July 17, 2016
When we passed the invitation for you to suggest sermon themes, one responded with a
question about what it means to be ‘blessed’? This person spends a fair amount of time with
those whose lives are beset by pain. In what meaningful way, aside from cliché, can such a
person be blessed? Some other folks asked for treatment of a similar theme. What does the word
‘blessed’ mean when a person has lost their job, their health, their family, or faces deep issues of
discontent in their lives?
“Blessed’ is one of those church words we seldom here outside a religious setting. We
say a blessing over meals. I sneeze and you say, “Bless you.” We sing, “Blessed be the name of
the Lord,’ or ‘Blessed Assurance.” Sometimes we use the word in one way but mean something
way different. In my part of Southern Illinois when a person says concerning someone else,
“Well, bless their hearts,” what they really are saying is, “I hope they die lonely in a damp cave
filled with vampire bats.” Bless your pea-picking heart!
It helps to realize that where the word for blessed is used in the New Testament, the most
natural translation of that word is, “Happy.” In the Beatitudes, those who first heard Jesus speak
would have understood him to say ‘happy’ rather than ‘blessed’ in some churchly spin.
We have to be honest. It is easy in bumper sticker theology to chirp that people who
know Jesus are happy and those who don’t, aren’t. While it is true that the blessedness or
happiness Jesus describes comes only from a deep trust in God, it also is true that happiness of
other sorts is possible for those who aren’t particularly religious or who do not follow Jesus.
Such folks can pay their taxes, work hard, love their families and be “happy” in numerous
meanings of the word. So when we who do follow Jesus use the term, truth in advertising
remains important.
When couples ask me to marry them and I ask them why they want to get married, one of
the most common replies is, “He or she makes me happy.” That’s nice. I guess it is better to say
that than to snarl about finally finding someone who makes them totally miserable. The deeper
issue is the reality that this feeling level of happiness always changes, recedes and advances,
changes through circumstance and time. Marriage that goes the distance in rich and satisfying
ways is comprised of a couple who do not make happiness the main thing, even as they enjoy it
when it comes.
All that said, I cut to the chase. What is the power and the integrity of a word such as
‘blessed’ especially when one’s life is bruised or bleeding or broken? How do we move this
word beyond platitude into an attitude (forgive the pun) where the happiness of which Jesus
spoke remains real for those whose lives are reeling?
Here is the point. Jesus makes clear that the one way never to find happiness is by
seeking it. The one way never to know blessedness is by making blessedness the goal of one’s
search. The truth and power of this word flows as a byproduct of another, deeper trust, the
focused and passionate trust we place in God, the God revealed supremely in Jesus.
Notice how Jesus says it in the Beatitudes. Qualities such as poverty of spirit, realizing
our profound brokenness and need; hearts weeping when broken by loss or sin; a humble spirit
that refuses to elbow its way through life in search of self-interest; a merciful and pure and
peaceful focus that the world says is fit for losers but Jesus says is the stuff of the Kingdom of
God; lives willing to suffer for what is right and what honors God, following the steps of the
prophets who were treated with contempt that a greater love might be proclaimed…the byproduct of all these kingdom qualities is the state of blessedness, happiness.
This is a blessed or happy condition that transcends time or circumstance. It is not
switched on when things go well and toggled off when everything hits the fan. It is an abiding,
underlying sense of serenity that flows from resting fully in God, centering on Jesus and his
Kingdom way, living more fully into the life that is beyond life as we know it, reflecting the “joy
unspeakable and full of Glory,” of which Peter speaks.
Psalm 1 gives us another example. “Blessed are those who rejects wicked counsel, who
refuses to stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of those who scorn and mock the purebright promises of God. Practical and active means exist that can help create the atmosphere in
which complete trust in God flows from a person’s life, with the quality of happiness sloshing
over the sides of the soul in rich and meaningful ways. It is natural and not contrived; it is
dynamic and not bottled. It is the blessed happiness of that ‘peace that passes all understanding,”
as Paul recounts in Philippians 4.
Years ago I was asked to preach and to baptize a friend’s infant daughter at the United
Methodist church in Sesser, Il. I was honored to be asked and on the appointed day journeyed to
the village and preached an acceptable sermon, or so I hope! It was a small church but they
welcomed me warmly.
Shortly before the service started my friend Max said the service would end in a different
way. A long-time and active member had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, I think it was
leukemia, and the service would conclude with his family making some comments with him
present in worship. I did my thing, and baptized a delightful little girl, and sat down.
The man was an old farmer and sat next to his wife while his 3 adult daughters each took
turns speaking about their dad in church while he was still alive to hear. They spoke of his love,
his example, his values, and his faith. They teared up, but a lot of folks there that morning did the
same. Then they sung a special song for their dad. They weren’t singers, but nobody cared. As
their dad sat in the pew, holding his wife’s hand, the affirmation and love of his family, including
his church family, washed over him with a gentle and joyous spirit.
I realized in that moment that I was in the presence of a man truly blessed, happy,
successful in ways the world will never know or understand. To know such love and to make
such a difference in so many lives is to be blessed, even as the quality of one’s life flows in
blessing to others. And when he died, I was told about a month later, I have no doubt that the
power of these words of scripture were present in his passing: Blessed are those who die in the
Lord (Revelation 14:13).
Seek happiness for its own sake and you will never find it. “Seek first the Kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you,” everything that matters
most in life and love, in friendship and family (Matthew 6:33). Blessedness is a by-product of
trust in our heavenly Father, and a happiness that God alone can give. May you be most truly
blessed!