10.19.23 - Matthew 5:4-6
A word might be a blessing or a curse. We might intend one and another is heard. How might your words today reflect a blessing to others, and when they don't, how might you be curious to do different?
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
The beatitudes are usually framed as a ‘teaching moment’. A sermonette that reveals who God pays attention to -- the mourning, the meek, and the done-wrong -- each followed by a promise that it won’t be like that forever.
That framing comes from the translators’ choice of the word “for” or “because”. This group is a favored category because they will receive the promise.
But these lines can also be rendered:
Blessed are those who mourn, that they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, that they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, that they will be filled.
I think these statements aren’t meant to be informative, they’re illocutions. Jesus, in pronouncing these words, engages in the act of the blessing itself.
We are not blessed because we are mourning. We are blessed because Jesus says so, to the end that we might be comforted.
Let Jesus’ words speak through your mouth. Bless someone today - a pet, a stranger, a friend - using this formula: Blessed are you that [benefit].
--Kate Davoli