The Blessed Life: Meek

Matthew 5:5 NASB95PARA

“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Introduction

Beatitudes are essentially the reversal of the world’s standards

“Cause-and-effect” relationship

Ultimately, this is nothing less than the portrait and Christ’s own life (11:29, 12:15-21, 21:5)

Psalm 37:9 (NASB95PARA)

For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.

Psalm 37:11 (NASB95PARA)

But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

Blessed

Blessed, makarios (μακάριος)

“to regard someone as happy or fortunate in view of favorable circumstances”

Meek

most translations use “gentle” or “meek”, but can mean gentle, meek, mild, kind, forgiving, or showing loving self-restraint

Moses, David, and Jesus are all noted in Scripture as meek

not

short or quick-tempered

not hot-tempered or sulky

returning evil for evil

powerless

quite the opposite, the meek are powerful

unfeeling or uncaring

not a feminine quality

Moses, David, Jesus

Restraint and humility are at the root of meekness

they restrain their anger

they demonstrate a humility that results from a spiritual renewal, from a relationship with God

The meek person knows the right things to be angry about, how long, and how passionately without losing one’s temper and injuring friend or foe

Meekness is a certain kind of power

resists pressures (racism, materialism, violence, etc) and yields to others

shows humility toward others as gentle, non-assertive, non-violent

accepts God’s dealings without complaint

accepts man’s opposition, insults, etc as result of corruption of sin in this world

Inherit the earth

OT theme of inheriting the (Promised) land

“posses” both eschatologically and presently, not as in the planet, government, or wealth in its current form

think “new heavens and new earth”

God will vindicate the meed and give them an honorable position they did not aggressively seek for themselves

Conclusion

the godless promote self-assertion; Christianity favors self-abasement