My Dear Shepherds,
In Marilynne Robinson’s novel, Gilead, an elderly and ailing minister writes to his young son whom he knows he will not see grow up. At one point he’s explaining the pastoral privilege of pronouncing God’s blessing. He says, “Not that you have to be a minister to confer blessing. You are simply much more likely to find yourself in that position. It’s a thing people expect of you.” Then he adds, “I don’t know why there is so little about this aspect of the calling in the literature.”
Exactly! Why were some of us taught so little about the pastoral privilege and responsibility of conferring God’s blessing on his people? We’re preachers. We believe in the holy potency of God’s Word spoken. So it is with God-given words of blessing. It was one of the principal duties of the Old Testament priests:
Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the LORD, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever. (1 Chron. 23:13; cf. Deut. 10:8; 21:5)
The essential assignment, of course, was this:
Tell Aaron and his sons, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
‘The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.’
So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Num. 6:24-27)
Pastors who aren’t in the habit of blessing their congregations with such sacred words don’t realize what they or their people are missing. A blessing God intends for them to hear and treasure goes unspoken and undervalued.
It may seem unnecessary to pronounce a blessing which God’s people already have. Won’t God keep them and be gracious to them whether or not we say it? Yes, but that’s evidently not the point. God wanted this blessing to be constantly reiterated. “Forever,” he said. And he told them why.
God said that with these words priests would “put my name on the Israelites,” (“The LORD … The LORD … The LORD …”) as the statement and stamp of God’s ownership. Congregations are prone to forget that we belong to him alone, so we are assigned to say it again and again. It’s their security and identity, their birthright.
God’s second assurance was, “and I will bless them,” as if to say, “My words spoken by my priests are already as good as done.” Never tire of telling them.
Why wouldn’t we do this? After all, this responsibility is not a relic of the Old Covenant, now superseded by Christ. Rather, this ancient blessing is personified in Christ and amen’d by Christ. All the New Testament blessings are rooted in the words God gave Aaron.
One Sunday, after people stood for the benediction, I explained, “This is your birthright. These are the unique privileges of being God’s people.” Then, hands outstretched, I blessed them as Aaron had. A few minutes later, in the foyer, Katerina gripped my hand and with shining eyes said, “I have always heard the blessing at the end of the service but this time the word birthright really got my attention. It changed the way I listened and received the blessing.” She went on, “It made me feel so special. I saw myself like a child just born to a King, now entitled to her Father’s riches. Thank you for saying that.”
So, dear shepherds, “The LORD bless you and keep you …”
Pastor Lee
