BBC Radio 4 2016-05-13

BBC Radio 4 2016-05-13

Good morning, on a day the superstitious are said to fear – Friday the 13th. There’s even a word for the state of anxiety this date generates – paraskevidekatriaphobia. That may be the longest word ever used on Thought for the Day! So why is Friday the 13th supposedly susceptible to misfortune? Some argue it’s the combination of Friday being the day of Christ’s crucifixion and 13 being the number of those present at the Last Supper before Judas fled the table to betray Jesus. But there seems to be an even older fear of the number 13, linked to the honour in which the number 12 was held. There are 12 months in a year, 12 hours of the clock, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 gods of Olympus – the list could go on. To reach 13 was to travel into unknown and risky territory. So some tall buildings have no 13th floor and some streets no house with the number 13 as if to avoid some unspecified danger. Bingo callers announce 13 as “unlucky for some”.

It all seems ridiculously irrational yet the least superstitious of us may wish someone “good luck”. I remember doing so as a young priest only to be firmly admonished that luck wasn’t a Christian concept. I was told God did not give or withhold favours indiscriminately. But, I argued, life does sometimes seem random. It still does. We may bless our good fortune that we’re not having to risk life and limb as migrants in the Mediterranean. We may feel lucky to have been born to loving parents in a secure family, having done nothing to deserve it. But I do understand why I was told off all those years ago. We shape our lives by our vision, hard work and determination. Simply waiting for a lucky break isn’t enough. We probably wouldn’t recognise the golden opportunity when it came if we sought to achieve nothing. I think this must be why when Napoleon was selecting his generals, once he was assured of their competence, he’d ask “but are they lucky?”

Jesus never wished anyone “good luck”. Instead he was very keen on giving blessings, and they were targeted. In the Sermon on the Mount it’s the poor, the meek, the bereaved and the persecuted who are blessed. They’re the very ones most of us think are unlucky. Instead, they’re on the receiving end of divine favour. Perhaps it’s because they’re the least concerned to preserve their possessions or security and are the most open to change. On Friday the 13th it could be that it’s our understanding of what causes our deepest anxieties which needs a rethink.

First broadcast 13 May 2016