November 24, 2024
Matthew 5:1-12
Introduction
“Blessed.” Jesus says this word nine times in today’s Gospel. We often talk about ourselves or others as being blessed. “I’m blessed.” “She’s blessed.” “We’re really blessed.” We’ve all said and heard statements like these, right? But here’s what I wonder… What do they mean? What does it mean to be blessed? When you tell another, you are “blessed” what do you mean by that? And when you hear someone else say, “I’m so blessed,” how do you understand that? I ask these questions because I think what we mean when we talk about being blessed is often not what Jesus means when he talks about our being blessed.
Take a moment and think of one thing that points to or indicates your blessedness. You got it, know what it is? What did you name? What’s the mark or indicator of your blessedness? When I hear others talk about being blessed they often say things like: good health, healing from sickness, well-being, wealth, some good fortune, success, getting through a difficult time, family, love and friendship, receiving support from another, getting something they wanted, things going their way. And that’s often how I’ve thought about being blessed too. They’re all certainly good, and I want them for you and myself, but is that really what it means to be blessed? Or is being blessed as Jesus talks about in his beatitudes, actually better than getting something we want or things going our way?
Move 1
How many of you, when I asked you to name something that points to or indicates your blessedness, named one of the beatitudes in today’s Gospel? Anyone? If you didn’t, don’t fret, they’re not at the top of my list either. I didn’t ask that question as a test, criticism, or judgment but as a wondering that maybe we don’t really get what it means to be blessed.
I suspect most of us think of blessedness as some sort of reward or favoritism from God. We’re lucky or fortunate in contrast to someone who is not. We’ve received a particular benefit. Maybe our prayer was answered like we wanted. Maybe we even think we did things right as opposed to someone who did them wrong. Maybe we think to be blessed means we’ve been chosen, picked, favored, worthy of benefit. But what if that’s not at all what it means to be blessed? What if blessedness is broader and bigger than that? What if we don’t acquire or get blessedness? What if blessedness is just… given? What if blessedness is not unique or particular to certain individuals? What if there are no prerequisites or qualifications to be blessed? What if blessedness isn’t exclusive to some but inclusive of all?
Move 2
Let me try to paint a picture of where I’m going here. Imagine one day you come to my office and say, “Jonathan, I’ve been counting my blessings and I’ve got a lot. I am really blessed.”
And I say, “Yeah? Great. So what? Every single person regardless of who they are is blessed. Every single person regardless of what he or she believes or doesn’t believe is blessed. Every single person regardless of what he or she has done or left undone, is blessed. We’re all blessed. You’re not that special.”
What would you think? How would that response make you feel? Would that mess with your understanding of blessedness? Would you celebrate that all are blessed? Or would you feel as if I had taken something from you and made you feel that you’re not as unique, important, or special as you thought you were or want to be? I think that’s often how we see our blessedness: I am unique, important, special. I’ve benefited. God has seen me and done something for me. But I wonder if we make blessedness too small, too individualistic, too circumstantial.
*******
Here’s the truth…we’re all already blessed. It’s not something you get, earn, acquire, or receive. Blessed is something you are. We are already blessed. It was given to us by the Creator at our creation. And there’s nothing you can do to be more blessed, and there’s nothing you can do to lose your blessedness. There is no distinction between those who are blessed and those who are not blessed. The only distinction is between those who know they are blessed and those who have not yet recognized their blessedness. It’s not a question of blessedness but a question of recognition.
Take being poor in spirit, for example. Being poor in spirit is not the blessing and it’s not the prerequisite to receive a blessing. It’s a manifestation or expression of one who recognizes her or his blessedness. It’s the way we live when we already know and trust that we are blessed. And so it is with all the beatitudes.
When we know we are blessed we live in a particular way, and when we don’t know or trust our blessedness we live in a different way. When I trust and live from my blessedness, I’m able to respond to you in a different way, a better way, a deeper way, a more loving way. But when I forget, turn away from, deny, or don’t recognize my blessedness, more often than not I betray myself and that usually means I will hurt you.
Move 3
Back in 2020, just before Thanksgiving, Steve Hartman of the CBS Evening News did a “feel-good” segment that included in part him asking his kids “What could we possibly be thankful for?” Hartman’s young daughter answered by offering a unique and worthwhile suggestion, saying, “Well, instead of saying what we’re thankful for, we could say what was really hard for us.” Naming and acknowledging our struggles is actually healthy, and in 2020 it was particularly easy.
I suspect many might be asking the same question in the days leading up to Thanksgiving this year— “What could we possibly be thankful for?” It’s been a hard year in many ways after all. A contentious and divisive election season that went deeper than just electing our next president. Rising costs and inflation. Heightened geopolitical tensions. Impacts from natural disasters. The rapid development of artificial intelligence is raising concerns—just to name a few. It’s been a hard year in so many ways and therefore it’s understandable to ask, “What could we possibly be thankful for?” But does difficulty negate or diminish Thanksgiving or giving thanks? Does difficulty keep us from knowing we’re blessed?
What are giving thanks and knowing we’re blessed really about? What happens to thankfulness and blessing when circumstances are difficult, painful, or not what we want or asked for? The Apostle Paul says we are to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18), not just the ones that fulfill our wants and desires.
Maybe thankfulness and knowing we are blessed are about more than simply saying, “Thank you,” or counting our blessings. Maybe they aren’t even defined by the circumstances in our life and world. Maybe they are not so much things we say or do, but a way of being in this world.
*******
In his book Consolations the poet David Whyte writes, “Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given. Gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us.”
He continues, saying, “Taking even one more breath of air, the miracle of being part of something, rather than nothing, and inhabiting a living world with real faces, real voices, laughter, the color blue, the green of the fields, the freshness of the cold wind, or the tawny hue of a winter landscape is to be blessed. Thanksgiving happens when our sense of presence meets all other presences. To see the full miraculous essentiality of the color blue is to be grateful with no necessity for a word of thanks. Being unappreciative likely means we are simply not paying attention.”
To live with “no necessity for a word of thanks” is to live with full recognition that we are all blessed—no matter life’s varied circumstances. But to live “unappreciative” that we are all blessed is to live without paying attention.
Conclusion
Now, to be clear, no, I am not suggesting we cancel Thanksgiving. It’s good and right to celebrate and give thanks—and to at times be intentional to do so. I am suggesting though that when we live fully aware of, fully present to, and in full recognition of our blessedness we won’t need to say we are thankful or blessed because we will be living our thankfulness and living our blessedness.
So a question we need to ask ourselves the week, and every week too, is… Are the beatitudes of Jesus finding expression in our life today? I’m not asking that as a way of telling you to go and make the beatitudes into a list of items you do and check off. I’m just asking if you see and know you are already blessed. Because when we recognize and live from our blessedness the beatitudes Jesus speaks about follow naturally. We don’t have to go out and do them. We can’t help but do them. It’s who we are at our best, at our deepest, and when we are most truly ourselves.
But if you’re not seeing the beatitudes in your life, I hope you will ask yourself why you’re not. What’s getting in the way? What’s keeping you from seeing your blessedness? And if you aren’t seeing them, I hope you will remind yourself that doesn’t mean you are not blessed. You are. And there is always an invitation to rediscover and reconnect with your blessedness.
*******
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us we are all blessed. Some days we know it and trust it more than other days. So let’s ask ourselves… What does it mean, and look like, for you and me today to reconnect to our blessedness? What does it mean, and look like, for you and me today, and every day, to know, and recognize, we are all blessed? Not because we are singled out, not because we are better or because we were good, but because we are all God’s children. Does that change how we see the world? Does that change how we live in the world? Does that change how we give thanks? Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, November 24, 2024; Thanksgiving Sunday
Holy God, the witnesses in your sacred word tell of your abundant and boundless blessings.
You give your word and call the worlds into being; You give your sovereign rule to emancipate the oppressed; You give your commanding fidelity to form your own people; You give your life for the life of the world—broken bread that feeds, poured out wine that binds and heals.
Again and again, You give…we receive…and we are blessed.
Blessed to have any sense of your mysterious presence; blessed that you give us life and then simply ask we live abundantly and fully into your calling to be extensions of your love and blessings in this world
Even so, we know, instead of loving recklessly and blessing wastefully, we live hedging our bets, and on the safe side. But we do give thanks, O God.
Yes, thanksgiving willed, but not so readily lived; thanksgiving held back by old wounds turned to powerful resentment; thanksgiving slowed by early fears that become vague anxiety, thanksgiving restrained by self-sufficiency in a can-do arrogance, blocked by amnesia unable to recall blessings that have already, and still abound.
Help us remember we are your beloved and blessed children; that we live in your beloved and blessed world; that we are alive and can experience your blessings that abound, and we can share abundantly by helping to bring your healing and love to the corners and streets and spaces in which we live and move and have our very being.
Helps us remember, then show us these places and spaces of blessings this day, this week, this season, and beyond— emboldening us to live each day from the blessings we have and the blessings we are.
Make it that in our thankfulness of blessings received, we will give, we will tell, we will act, we will share. Bless us O Lord, in such a way that through our Thanksgiving for you abundant and boundless blessings, we share them with all.
May you hear now the prayers of our hearts as we offer them in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of the blessed one who blesses us always, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”