Blessed Are You?

Discussion Questions 

1. Read Luke 6:1-38; you can find the passage here. Then read the devotional below, “Blessed Are You?” and use these discussion questions for further reflection.  

2. Do you understand God’s blessing to be a determining factor in how your life unfolds?  

3. How are God’s blessings different than what the world considers to be blessings? 

4. In the context of Jesus’s teachings in Luke 6, what do you think is the lesson of his blessings and woes?  

Devotional 

Jacob called his twelve sons to his death bed … and this is what he said to them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing. – Genesis 49:1, 28 (adapted) 

Jacob had things to say at the end of his life, so he gathered his sons. Under the umbrella of “blessings,” he gave each one a few words of cutting insight: 

“Reuben, you’re powerful but you’ll never excel. Simeon and Levi, you’re angry—I pray no one asks you for wisdom. Benjamin, you devour others like a hungry wolf.” 

Maybe Jacob was trying to make peace within himself before crossing from life to death, but it’s hard to imagine that his words landed well. 

“Judah, your brothers praise you for pouncing on enemies, but to me you’re just a cub without wisdom. Issachar, you’re a stubborn ass. Naphtali, you’re too horny for your own good.” Wow. (Sure, not all of Jacob’s sons were raked over the coals by their father. But only Joseph, the favorite son, received a “good” blessing.) 

Jacob’s so-called blessings were not unlike the mixed blessings preached by Jesus in Luke 6. 

“To the rich: your comforts are your affliction. To the consumer: your hunger is eternal. To the carefree: your spine crumples under the world’s burdens. But to the poor: you are closer to God than anyone. To the grieving: you are loved long before laughter returns to you. To the discouraged: your name is a song to God’s credit.” 

Being blessed—or cursed, for that matter—isn’t all we believe it to be. It’s not as permanent as we might hope, not as damning as we might fear. Fortunes change. So do people.  

And every day dawns with the same choices: to love the blessed and cursed alike, to be merciful to those in want as well as those with plenty, and to release ourselves from burden of judging others.

Prayer
Blessed are you, O God, and cursed are we who precariously idolize and condemn one another.