The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 26, A.D. 2007


What more do we expect?


Our use of words can reveal a lot about us.

For example, we can refer to something or someone as a blessing, and quite often we use the well-known cliché “Bless your heart.”

Also, when someone sneezes we often quickly say, “Bless you.”

Yes, we probably use the word bless more than we think.

But, when you think about it, how do we use it? We might begin by asking ourselves how often have we spoken blessing toward God?

Blessing God? Isn’t God supposed to bless us?

After all, in the beginning, God created the earth with all of its beauty, handed it over to humanity, and blessed them saying, “be fruitful and multiply.”

Throughout scripture God is constantly blessing humanity.

In the sermon on the mount Christ speaks the astonishing beatitudes which proclaim blessing for those who we would think would be at the bottom of the heap, such as the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are persecuted.

So, what does the word bless actually mean?

On one hand bless means “to hallow or consecrate and to invoke divine care for.”

That makes sense, for God to be the one who blesses.

But, how does that make any sense when we are confronted with words from today’s Psalm:

“Bless the Lord, O My soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

How are our souls and all that is within us able to bless the God who is the one who is always dong the blessing?

Then, the Psalm lists what God has done:’

He forgives us all our sins, heals us from all our infirmities, redeems our life from the grace, crowns us with mercy and loving kindness, satisfies us with good things, and renews our youth like and eagles.

Those are the blessings, the things that bring into our lives the joy and bliss of heaven.

But, how are we, then, to turn around and bless the Lord who has done all of these things?

There is a second definition to the word bless which may shed some light on our linguistic dilemma: to bless is “to speak gratefully and thankfully to God for what he has done.”

Now we get down to the nitty gritty of today’s scriptures and let’s be honest: just how often or how much do our souls bless the Lord, just how much of our lives reflect back to God the blessings he has given to us.

Or, do we fail to see what he has done and is doing and turn our blessing around to complaint that God isn’t answering our prayers, isn’t doing what we want him to do?

What more do we want?

Today’s gospel tells of the incredible healing that Jesus gave the crippled woman.

He laid hands on her, said “woman you are set free from your ailment” and she stood up straight and began praising God.

She was blessed, so she in turn blessed God with thanksgiving and praise.

Who wouldn’t be overwhelmed with gratitude to be healed as she was, to be set free?

Unfortunately today’s gospel doesn’t end with the woman’s gratitude: there is more to the story.

The religious hoi polloi who witnessed this miracle stick their noses in the air, pouted their lips and said: “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.”

Jesus had not done exactly what they thought should be done, and there, in a nutshell is why the blessings God should receive from us becomes the curses and the complaints we make with our words and our actions.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, God has literally showered us with blessings.

Look around at the beauty of the earth, the flowers, the sky, the mountains, the color of the sea.

Are we too absorbed with ourselves that we can’t see them?

Look at each breath we take, each day we are given, the family and friends with which God has blessed us, do we not know what gifts they are?

Look at the son of God, who, even though he was constantly criticized for not performing as expected, went to the cross for us, rose from the dead, and gave us eternal life, forgiveness, and salvation forever, literally handed to us on the silver platter of his love for us.

Look at the beauty of this place, look at the family of faith with which God has blessed us right here, right now.

But, especially when difficulty and conflicts come appear on the horizon, when things don’t go our way, how easy it is to have spiritual myopic vision and to only see what we perceive as God’s lack of blessing and love for us.

Why doesn’t God step in and do what we want when we want it done?

Job was one of the wealthiest and most prosperous people of his time.

He was blameless and upright, and he had a very devout and good relationship with God.

Job was literally sinless, and the pristine example of what life with God should be all about.

One day, in an instant, every tragedy imaginable came upon Job: his sons and daughters were killed by a storm, his flocks were destroyed, his servants were slain and his camels stolen.

It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Who could have blamed Job if he had shaken his fist toward heaven and heeded the advice of his wife: “Curse God and die.”

Listen to what Job said: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Here is Job, at the bottom of the barrel, giving God the blessing of gratitude and thanksgiving.

Is that the way we respond to God when things don’t go as we think they should?

Or, do we respond more in the terms of Mrs. Job?

Hear more advice from the Psalmist:

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.”

That’s pretty incredible, isn’t it?

What more do we expect? Actually, what more is there that God could do for us?

So, then, hear more words from the Psalmist:

“Bless the Lord, O you angels, you mighty ones who do his word, harkening to the voice of his word.

Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will.

Bless the Lord all his works, in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord O my soul.”

Every flower, every bird, every cloud in the sky, every angel, every saint, every drop of the ocean, every mountain and hill is literally a symphony of praise and thanksgiving for what God has done.

On Palm Sunday Jesus declared that is was possible for even the rocks to cry out in blessing toward God.

Isaiah the prophet tells us that “your shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the tress of the field shall clap their hands.”

You and I are invited to join this incredible chorus and to bless the Lord who has literally swamped us with his love and blessings.

Don’t you think it is time to get started?