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Monday, January 31, 2005
Blessing By Surprise
Jesus sat down with his disciples, began to speak, and proceeded to shock their sandals off.
He seems to have had a knack for that. It's one reason I never grow tired of reading his stories. This one comes from Matthew chapter 5.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit," he said. And those who mourn. The meek, too. And the ones who want something better from God so badly they can taste it.
I visualize among the disciples the schlemiel face of Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof." He raises his eyes to heaven and grumbles, "If this is the kind of blessing you give your chosen people, dear God, maybe you could choose somebody else for a while?"
Jesus' surprising blessings can be taken at least two ways:
1. If you want God's best blessings, then try to be like this.
But that sounds too much like saying we should grovel around, find something to worry about, give in to others at all cost, and wear ourselves out in the name of spirituality. And, oh yeah, please come join our Church of the Divine Flagellation. Offering envelopes provided free. Such a totally univiting picture.
Let's try door # 2. Even if your life is this bad, God has a blessing for you.
In other words, when you feel utterly helpless -- God bless you! Same thing when your heartbreak feels like forever. When you've got no choice but to grin and bear bad circumstances. And when you'd give anything in all the world to know you're right where God wants you to be. God knows; God cares; and so will we if you'll let us. What totally unexpected blessings.
One more blessing I get from these surprising words...
I'm so glad Jesus smiles on spiritual hunger, instead of spiritual attainment. How many of us would ever get blessed if the prerequisite was spiritual perfection?
The 12 Steps people got it right, I think. Before anything else, admit you are totally powerless to change on your own. Now you're ready to take eleven more steps toward recovery -- because you want it so bad you can taste it. In the end, no matter how long you've been clean and sober, you know you're always still recovering -- sharing the life-long process with people just as surprised as you are to be so blessed as this.
Sounds a lot like church to me. Let me know if you'd like to hear more.
posted by Jack Buckley at
11:40 AM
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