0212022 – Luke 6. 17-26
There is A HISTORY behind the word, “BLESSED.”
It was, according to THE GREEKS, that the “blessed” ones existed on a higher plane than the rest of ALL the people.
They were “gods.”
So, in “ancient Greece,” the word for “blessed” referred ONLY to the gods…at least originally…The “gods” were “the blessed ones.”
They had achieved “a state of HAPPINESS” and “CONTENTMENT” that was beyond “ALL CARES and LABORS” and , even “BEYOND DEATH, itself.”
The “blessed ones” were those who lived “WAY UP THERE” in some OTHER WORLD.
To be blessed, you had to be a god.
But then, words CHANGE over time…and their meanings expand…and grow.
So, the blessed were HUMANS who had gone to the “other-world of the gods.”
So, they were “the deceased ones,” the dead. They too, became “the blessed ones.”
But then, things continued to expand more over time.
Next, they included the WEALTHY, the upper crust. (The Super Rich) The Nouveau riche…
BUT, there was nothing like coming from money, especially OLD MONEY, stinkin’ money, money that had been around a generation or two…money that was passed down, to prove that you were indeed “blessed” and had been.
You know, the ones with “servants.”
The ones with “big– gated-houses.” The ones who owned herds.
The ones who rode around in caravans…you remember them, they were made by Dodge…
There was nothing like a MINI-VAN to say you were “stinking blessed.”
Oops! Wrong kind of Caravan…
The word morphed again…
OR, they could be those with “many possessions.” YOU KNOW (Lots of Stuff!) Stuff in boxes, stuff in storage, stuff in storage containers, you know, folks who were “stuffed with stuff…”
THESE were the “blessed ones, too.”
You do know that one of the “oldest translations” of the Hebrew Bible is the SEPTUAGINT Version.
The Septuagint version is that version that translated the original Hebrew Bible into the Greek language.
The Septuagint Bible arose in the 3rd century B.C.E., when the Hebrew Bible, was ultimately translated into Greek.
So, about 300 years before Jesus was born.
The name Septuagint derives from the Latin word septuaginta, which means 70.
The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible is called Septuagint because “70 or 72 Jewish SCHOLARS” reportedly took part in the translation PROCESS.
The Greek version of the HEBREW BIBLE, or Septuagint, then, is the earliest extant Koine Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible and Deuterocanonical books. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch, were all translated in the mid-3rd century BCE.
So, by the time of Jesus, the “blessed ones,” were the “fat cats.” The healthy ones, the rich and the famous.
But you know HOW MUCH Jesus liked to change things, mix things up. Turn things on their ear. Topsey Turvey just for kicks…and grins…
Jesus used “this word” in a totally different manner.
It is not the elite who were the blessed ones. It is not the rich and powerful who are blessed. It is not the high and mighty and the snooty who are blessed. It is not the people living in huge mansions or expensive penthouses who are blessed.
Rather, Jesus pronounces God’s blessings on the lowly: the poor, the hungry, the crying, and the hated…the despised. The marginalized of this world…they are “the blessed ones…”
Throughout “the history of this word it had always been “the other people” who were considered blessed: the rich, the filled up, the ones with big tummies, the laughing ones. Jesus turns that all upside-down…and on its ear.
The “elite” in God’s kingdom, the blessed ones in God’s kingdom, are those who are at “the bottom of the heap of humanity.” Just think about WHO his main audience was? WHO was HE speaking to? They were the poor, the sick, the lame, the broken, those in need, the hungry, the weeping, the malnourished…the ones without any “game!”
And he looked them in the eyes and said the Greeks were wrong, YOU ARE THE BLESSED OF MY FATHER.
This was something radical. Something NEW! From the worlds standards… these people are not blessed at all…
But, AH, using GOD’S STANDARDS, things look a little bit different!
So, he shocks them all by saying WOE to you who are rich, happy, full, and liked…all of that, means absolutely nothing to my father.
But you, the poor and the downtrodden, the pushed and the shoved, YOU have a place in the heart of MY FATHER.
And so it has been ever since.
Now, it is up to us, to reach out to all those in any kind of need.
Amen.