Bless You?

Someone sneezes and you quickly respond with, "Bless you!" What the heck does that mean, really? "Hope you didn't get any on you!" or what?!?

Seriously, people of every faith and no stated faith toss the word bless around like we actually know what it means. "Well, we're really blessed!" So, does that mean we have lots of good stuff, a family with no problems, friends who think we're great, good health, all of the above, or what? "Her prayers were answered; what a blessing!" So God likes her, right? Is that what blessing means.

Maybe the place to start isn't with a definition, but with personal experience. So, do you feel blessed right now? If so, why? If not, why not?

The original Hebrew means something like, "to bend the knee." That is, to give honor to someone of great worth and value. According to the faith history to which I adhere, God once told a couple named Abram and Sarai that he would bless them so that all people could be blessed through them. Jesus followers believe he is the culmination of that very promise of blessing.

So, again, what does it mean to be blessed? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

The Good Samaritan Revisited - Part Two

Jesus told a story to a Jewish legal expert, seeking interpretation of the command to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It was a story about a Jewish man, robbed and beaten while travelling. Two Jewish men of high esteem pass him by without helping him. A Samaritan, though, rescues him. In hearing, sharing, or interpreting this story, we tend to overlook the details Jesus gives about this man's actions. First, he risks a great deal. He risks violent reprisal for touching a Jew, and he risks the anger of his own people for helping a Jew. Also, the Samaritan sacrifices a lot. His oil and wine medicate the man's wounds. He would have had to use his own clothing as bandages. He gave up his own beast of burden and walked so the wounded man could be transported. The Samaritan sacrificed his time and his money.

However, we don't get any sense that the Samaritan viewed his own actions as sacrifice. As Jesus tells it, the Samaritan didn't do what he did grudgingly. Instead, Jesus paints a picture of someone willing to do whatever it takes to rescue the wounded man. He practiced eager sacrifice.

How much of what I do in Jesus' name is a sacrifice I'm so eager to offer that I don't even think of it as being a sacrifice?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.