The meek
This week is on Matthew 5:5:
And also on Matthew 11:29
I was reading about meekness recently and these verses came up. The second one you need an older translation for, as meekness isn't really a virtue to our modern culture, so usually people prefer to translate it as "gentleness."
In a Biblical sense, though, meekness is more than just gentleness. Someone can be gentle because they're weak, or powerless, or a coward, but meekness is a sort of gentleness born out of discipline, self-control, and wisdom. Not standing up for yourself because you're afraid is cowardice. Not standing up for yourself because you can't win anyway is weakness or powerlessness. Not standing up for yourself because you choose not to cause harm to another, or because the timing is not right, is meekness.
Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth. In other words, if you can manage to control yourself, if you can manage to lay low and endure hardship and provocation for no good reason, you will have it all. And the best example of meekness is Jesus. He was taunted and provoked, beaten and robbed, betrayed by his own, even humiliated by filthy heathen savages, and yet he kept his cool and let it slide for the sake of the bigger picture. Jesus took it, not because he was a wimp, or because he was out of options, but because he had such power that he could afford to absorb the blow for the sake of love.
It's easier said than done though. Who among us can keep their cool and take abuse when they'd be morally or legally justified to retaliate? If someone takes your last $1000 from you, is it so easy to deny yourself the pleasure of punching the thief a few times in the face before taking it back, if given the chance? Or if someone slanders you behind your back to your employer and costs you your career, is it easy to let it go, if you had the chance to turn the table? And yet that is meekness.
Jesus could have brought down a lot of pain and trouble on his tormentors. Just physically speaking, he was probably a big man from working as a carpenter. He could have dropped a few guys, even professional soldiers, if he'd wanted. Spiritually, he was aware of the power he had. As he told Peter, he could have called down legions of angels to destroy the people who came to him to make trouble. But he didn't do any of that, not because he didn't want to cause problems, or because he wasn't allowed to, but because he simply chose not to. He chose love over self-defense, and over true moral justice.
Some of the meekest men I know are ex special forces soldiers. These are guys who unleashed unimaginable levels of sustained violence when they were at war. Even in civilian life, they're fit, strong, and well armed, and yet they keep their cool no matter what drama people around them are stirring up. Things that would turn ordinary men into red-faced anger monkeys don't even seem to raise the pulse of these guys. They're well regulated and under control, meek like Jesus.
To follow in Jesus' steps, we have to be meek like Jesus was meek. Even when we are morally or legally in the right to take action on our own behalf, we should choose love instead. Others will think you are a coward, or complacent, or worse, but it actually takes an incredible amount of strength and focus. Most of us can't even tolerate being cut off in traffic without laying on the horn and yelling, let alone mustering the kind of meekness shown by Jesus. But without that meekness, we lack the self-control to be able to guarantee that love will be delivered every time love is required, and that we will put others before ourselves.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
And also on Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke on you, and learn of me that I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
I was reading about meekness recently and these verses came up. The second one you need an older translation for, as meekness isn't really a virtue to our modern culture, so usually people prefer to translate it as "gentleness."
In a Biblical sense, though, meekness is more than just gentleness. Someone can be gentle because they're weak, or powerless, or a coward, but meekness is a sort of gentleness born out of discipline, self-control, and wisdom. Not standing up for yourself because you're afraid is cowardice. Not standing up for yourself because you can't win anyway is weakness or powerlessness. Not standing up for yourself because you choose not to cause harm to another, or because the timing is not right, is meekness.
Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth. In other words, if you can manage to control yourself, if you can manage to lay low and endure hardship and provocation for no good reason, you will have it all. And the best example of meekness is Jesus. He was taunted and provoked, beaten and robbed, betrayed by his own, even humiliated by filthy heathen savages, and yet he kept his cool and let it slide for the sake of the bigger picture. Jesus took it, not because he was a wimp, or because he was out of options, but because he had such power that he could afford to absorb the blow for the sake of love.
It's easier said than done though. Who among us can keep their cool and take abuse when they'd be morally or legally justified to retaliate? If someone takes your last $1000 from you, is it so easy to deny yourself the pleasure of punching the thief a few times in the face before taking it back, if given the chance? Or if someone slanders you behind your back to your employer and costs you your career, is it easy to let it go, if you had the chance to turn the table? And yet that is meekness.
Jesus could have brought down a lot of pain and trouble on his tormentors. Just physically speaking, he was probably a big man from working as a carpenter. He could have dropped a few guys, even professional soldiers, if he'd wanted. Spiritually, he was aware of the power he had. As he told Peter, he could have called down legions of angels to destroy the people who came to him to make trouble. But he didn't do any of that, not because he didn't want to cause problems, or because he wasn't allowed to, but because he simply chose not to. He chose love over self-defense, and over true moral justice.
Some of the meekest men I know are ex special forces soldiers. These are guys who unleashed unimaginable levels of sustained violence when they were at war. Even in civilian life, they're fit, strong, and well armed, and yet they keep their cool no matter what drama people around them are stirring up. Things that would turn ordinary men into red-faced anger monkeys don't even seem to raise the pulse of these guys. They're well regulated and under control, meek like Jesus.
To follow in Jesus' steps, we have to be meek like Jesus was meek. Even when we are morally or legally in the right to take action on our own behalf, we should choose love instead. Others will think you are a coward, or complacent, or worse, but it actually takes an incredible amount of strength and focus. Most of us can't even tolerate being cut off in traffic without laying on the horn and yelling, let alone mustering the kind of meekness shown by Jesus. But without that meekness, we lack the self-control to be able to guarantee that love will be delivered every time love is required, and that we will put others before ourselves.
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