Gunna Sneeze

Have you ever been amongst a group of people and just want to blend in? You want to be quiet and not draw attention to yourself. Then all of a sudden your nose starts tingling. You think, oh no not a sneeze! You can pinch your nose or fidget around, but that sneeze is going to erupt whether you like it or not. Now when some people sneeze it sounds like they just stepped on a mouse, others sound like mortar fire. Regardless of how discreet or wall shaking the “AAA-CHOO” is, it is hard to go unnoticed.

Bless You

Invariably, someone will respond with “Bless You!” Have you ever wondered why you need blessed after a sneeze? When I think of a blessing, I think about Jesus’s sermon on the mount as He addressed the crowd with the Beatitudes as recorded in Matthew 5:1-12. However, no mention was made in the Bible toward the need to be blessed after a sneeze. Where did this custom of blessing come from?

There are many ideas as to how this response comes about. One belief is that it originated in Rome when a deadly plague was raging through Europe in the fifth century.  One of the symptoms of the plague was coughing and sneezing, and it is believed that Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) suggested saying, “God bless you” after a person sneezed in hopes that this prayer would protect them from an otherwise certain death. Another belief comes from an ancient myth stemming from a superstition from long ago when ancient man thought that the soul was in the form of air and resided in one’s head (hmm, might be where the term “air head” come from).

A sneeze, therefore, might accidentally expel the spirit from the body unless God blessed you and prevented this from occurring.  Then others believe the phrase come from an ancient culture that thought sneezing forced evil spirits out of the body, endangering others because these spirits might now enter their own bodies. The blessing was granted to protect both the person sneezing and others around him.

Meaningful Blessings

No matter where the term originated, in today’s society it is not a bad thing to bless someone after a sneeze, or any other time for that matter. A blessing is the extension of good into the life of another. It always includes God, because we know only God is capable of bringing a blessing. When we say, “bless you” or “God bless you,” we do this in the name of God for their behalf to support the good that you will for them. This is the true nature of a blessing. So whether it is extended after a sneeze or any other reason, it is a sincere and powerful act.

God give us all a blessing we use quite often through Moses in Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”  Amen.