We’re all in this together
Epiphany 6C | Luke 6:17-26
I took German in high school, which was forever ago, but I still remember that first year vocab list had Gesundheit on it. Besides being one of the German words most familiar to me, I became very attached to its wish. Gesundheit means “good health” and you say it when someone sneezes. Achoo! Gesundheit. Good health! It relates to the moment and feels so generous. Who doesn’t want someone to wish for their good health?
We in the US inherited a tradition of saying something else. Bless you. Which is short for God bless you. And we have a righteous indignation that at least one person in the room must acknowledge when a sneeze has taken place and request God’s blessing be upon them. It is a rule. And if it is you who sneezed? And nobody says it? That is unconscionable. They all must hate you. There is a great scene in the movie Dogma about this: what is the angel of vengeance supposed to do when he sneezes and nobody says “God bless you”?
Our tradition of blessing a sneezer is more superstitious than it is generous. Whatever demon is inside you, spiking that fever and making your nose leak like a sieve needs to stay away from me because you’re in God’s hands now, my friend! …
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