The word “blessed” has such baggage among us. We feel blessed. We are blessed. We see others who we say are blessed. But we use this word so much we are in danger of missing the meaning, especially when we read about “blessed” in the Holy Scriptures.
One of the most significant and well-known passages in our New Testament is the “Beatitudes” where Jesus talks about “blessed” a lot. And the groups He declares “blessed” are a pretty interesting list: The poor in spirit are “blessed.” Those who mourn are “blessed.” The meek are “blessed.” And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are “blessed.” Lots of folks are “blessed.”
But what if the context of this word usage was taken seriously and we didn’t throw this word around quite so easily?
Look at our lesson today in Galatians 3:8-12:
Brethren, the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “in you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law; for “the righteous shall live by faith”; but the law does not rest on faith, for “He who does them shall live by them.”
St. Paul writes the Church in Galatia specifically of the dangers of reducing the Christian Faith to mere rule-keeping or an ethnic “club” we all have to join. You see, the Galatian Church was made up of a majority of Gentile converts to the Faith. That means they were more Roman pagans in background than shaped by the Hebrew expectation of the Messiah. And there was a group of Hebrew converts to Christianity that was telling these Gentiles that they had to become Jewish before they could be “real” Christians! Well, when Paul heard this, he was, let’s just say, extremely angry!
And Paul described himself in Philippians as “a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the Law (Torah) blameless.” (Phil. 3:6). So Paul wasn’t ashamed of being a Hebrew himself. He was a leader in the Temple worship of Israel before he converted to Christianity and even persecuted the Hebrews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So, Paul wasn’t ignorant about the Jewish faith. He saw Christ as the fulfillment of all the promises God made to Abraham, the “father of the faithful.” But St. Paul knew these promises to Abraham were fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ!
So, by the time St. Paul gets to this section of his letter to the Galatians, he insists we see the promise God made to Abraham is fulfilled in the Gentiles, the non-Hebrews, being brought into the Church with the Hebrew Christians and God making all of us “children of Abraham” because of our faith, not our ethnicity.
St. Paul insists that these “Judaizers” as he called these Hebrews who wanted all these Gentiles to practice Judaism as a prerequisite to being Christian, were mistaken. Because even following the Law, as they were claiming to do, wasn’t getting people to be what they were called to be. No, we needed more than a mere ethical system. We needed a transformation and that was going to take a faithful relationship with God through Christ!
It’s easy to reduce religion to just another ethical system or philosophy. But Christianity in its fullness simply doesn’t fit, nor can it fit this human straight jacket. The Christian Faith introduces the radical invitation to “become by grace what Christ is by nature.” The Christian Faith offers each of us the, frankly, disturbing, and easily misunderstood invitation to be so intimately connected to God that we start becoming “like” Him! This is much more than an ethical philosophy of life, and it is disconcerting and even considered dangerous by those who misunderstand or reject the teachings of the Christian Faith.
You see, the Christian Faith teaches that The Uncreated God entered His creation through the mystery of the Birth of Jesus Christ. The Christian Faith insists that The Uncreated God actually took physical flesh from a human woman named Mary and was “birthed” into His world through one of His creatures, one of us! And The Uncreated God did this precisely this way SO THAT the Creation He made, in the beginning, could be reconnected to Him since He is the only Source of true life! God became enfleshed so that you and I could become “engoded.”
This is why St. Paul says Abraham became a blessing to “all nations.” This is why Christmas is a Feast of the Church. This is the “blessedness” of the message of Christianity for every nation and people. This is the Orthodox Christian declaration through the centuries.
At this time of year, let us rejoice in this “blessed” Event that destroys darkness and invites us all, every human, to enter into the “blessed” life of being Orthodox on Purpose!
P.S. Be thou ready, Bethlehem, Eden hath opened unto all. Ephratha, prepare thyself, for now, behold, the Tree of life hath blossomed forth in the cave from the Holy Virgin. Her womb hath proved a true spiritual Paradise, wherein the divine and saving Tree is found, and as we eat thereof we shall all live, and shall not die as did Adam. For Christ is born now to raise the image that had fallen aforetime.
A Special Message from Fr. Barnabas: A recent message on our Faith Encouraged TV channel was a blessing: “Thank you Father …. listening to one of your homilies (past or current) every morning is the best way to start my day. Love and appreciate you and your teachings. Merry Christmas Season.” When you support Faith Encouraged Ministries at this time of year, you make notes like this possible. Please take a moment and share a gift of $5, $10, $20, or even $50 with us to help us! You can give online by clicking the image below! https://faithencouraged.org/make-a-donation/
