What's a Blessing For -- Jude 2

What gives strength to a person and to a community? Jude is about to enter into a hard conversation with people who have liars, deceivers, and destroyers of community in their midst. Living in this environment they need strength. Jude offers that strength in terms of a blessing:

May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Jude 2

A blessing of mercy, peace and love. A blessing is a prayer for God to give something to a person or to a people. But it is also much more than that. When done rightly a Biblical blessing is given by one of God’s representatives. This means that no one less than God himself stands behind the blessing. It is God who will bring to fruition the blessing that his spokesperson has pronounced. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says, “In general, the blessing is transmitted from the greater to the lesser. Its major function seems to have been to confer (i.e. grant or bestow) abundant and effective life upon something or someone.”
Jude, as God’s representative, is bestowing an abundant life of more and more mercy, peace, and love. Mercy speaks of God’s loyalty and lovingkindness toward his people (in the Old Testament mercy refers to God’s covenant faithfulness). In the New Testament Jesus most often shows mercy by bringing all different kinds of healing into people’s lives. In a situation where the people are struggling God assures them of his loyalty to them and his tenderness toward them. The blessing is one of mercy and peace. Peace is about God giving his people security, safety, prosperity and happiness--it is the promise of a full life. In the Old Testament peace or shalom was pictured as each man under his own vine and fig tree. The New Testament does not shy away from giving a full-orbed picture of God’s shalom (both physical and spiritual fullness), but it always holds that complete peace comes only with the return of Christ and our concern needs to be first with God’s kingdom even if it means we have to sacrifice some physical fullness (see 1 Timothy 6 and Hebrews 10.32ff). But even in this sacrifice we can find the fullest life possible on earth as we live blessed by God’s peace. The blessing is mercy, peace, and love. Love is God’s unfailing giving of himself for his children.
This blessing gives strength to the community Jude writes to and to us. For the blessings we read in the Scripture are blessings that are ours. Ours not only because we read them and take the words in with joy, but because these blessings are spoken over us at the end of worship services. John Calvin once said it was worth going to worship just to hear the blessing given. Sometimes people make a dash for the exits during the last song in a worship service--it is a sad mistake, for they are missing the blessing of God conferred on them and the community. A blessing of mercy, peace, and love.