Blessed are the Placemakers

Monty Python once misquoted the Beatitudes by saying, “Blessed are the cheese-makers.” That’s nothing. Read the Beatitudes and you get the feeling the whole thing is a mistake.

Typos.

When you run across them in your daily reading, they are no big deal. But when the errors occur in Holy Scripture, then you have a problem of biblical proportions.

“Thou shalt commit adultery” is what one Bible said. That mistake in the 20th chapter of Exodus could have started a sexual revolution.

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God.” The unrighteousness lobby certainly liked the sound of that one.

“Go and sin on more,” said Jesus in John 8:11. Well, to be honest, Jesus said, “Go and sin no more,” but the printer was looking for a loophole.

“Let the children first be killed.” Must have been written by a frustrated parent. What Jesus really said in Mark 7:25 is “Let the children first be filled.”

And in Matthew 5:9, part of today’s passage of Scripture, we hear, “Blessed are the place-makers.” That’s almost as bad as the line that Monty Python misunderstood...