Blessed are the Meek
Notes
Transcript
When is a time that you have had to or chosen to put your absolute trust in another?
In my years in aquatics and in my years of various friendships I’ve come across people who must humble themselves to trust others for what you and I consider basics. My friend John, a brilliant man who studied the works of Aristotle, studied for the priesthood, served communion in prisons, and loved Jesus. Yet he knew his local fire fighters by name for the number of times he’d fallen and had to call them to pick him up to put him back in his wheel chair. He had to rely on others to feed him.
I think of my friend I will call “Murph” as we share the same last name. Confined to a wheel chair and non-verbal he still attended Young Life Camp with his classmates. During cabin time he fully participated in conversations using a keyboard to voice his input. He was thrilled to participate in the swimming, and to go down the water slides which he trusted and depended upon leaders to carry him to the top of. When it came time for the night hike up to the top of the nearby mountain that wasn’t wheel chair accessible, he cautiously though optimistically crawled onto the hammock we’d strung between to backpacks, and he allowed his cabin mates to carry him up that mountain, and back down. “Murph” inspired an entire camp who would chant his name as he sat atop the water slide. He did the high ropes course strapped in with a harness with the help of other leaders. His trust blew me away.
For these friends, putting their trust in others is a daily necessity. For you and I as average abled people, if we’re honest that’s a place we’d rather not go. When I speak with aging adults, one of their greatest fears is needing to rely on others. On our journey through the Beatitudes as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5, we get to one of perhaps the most misunderstood, because of a word that we don’t use much, and when we do we find that we often misuse it. The word I’m referring to is “meek.” We read in Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
I asked in both of our Bible studies this past week, What does the word “meek” mean? We have language and biblical scholars amongst us as you know, and they got to the core of it’s meaning. “Humble, gentle, submissive.” All of which are how the Concise Oxford English Dictionary define it:
meek
■ adjective quiet, gentle, and submissive.
—DERIVATIVES meekly adverb meekness noun
—ORIGIN Middle English me(o)c, from Old Norse mjúkr ‘soft, gentle’.
A Thesaurus can often be a good guide, and there we find:
meek adjective
synonyms HUMBLE 1, lowly, modest, unassuming
related words gentle, mild; tame; forbearing, lenient, tolerant; long-suffering, patient
contrasted words high-spirited, mettlesome, spirited, spunky; contumacious, insubordinate, rebellious
antonyms arrogant
Humble, lowly, modest, unassuming, gentle, tame, forbearing, long suffering…
This isn’t supposed to be an english lesson, but it is important that we understand what is it that Jesus is trying to get to here in Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
We’re confronted with a word that far too often is seen as weak, lacking in strength, and the question arises is that even part of it?
Blessed are the meek…
I admit as I came to this verse I was at a bit of a loss. It’s a word that I’ve heard and read most of my Christian life, and I simply took it as “humble”. And then I learned there is a heroic bent to the meaning of the word. That would mean anything but weakness.
The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 The Bliss of the God-Controlled Life (Matthew 5:5)
Aristotle defines meekness, as the balance between excessive anger, and excessive angerlessness. Meekness, as Aristotle saw it, is the happy medium between too much and too little anger.
A second meaning in the standard Greek usage is the regular word for an animal that has been domesticated. It is the word for an animal that has learned to accept control. This is different than self-controlled it is the sense of being “God-controlled”, for only in God’s service do we find our perfect freedom and, in doing God’s will, our peace.
Yet, according to William Barclay, there is yet a third possible side we must consider in thinking about what it means to be meek. The greeks always contrasted the equality being translated as meekness with a quality of “lofty-heartedness. So it is a humility that banishes all pride. Without humility we cannot learn, for the first step to learning is the realization of our own ignorance.
The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 The Bliss of the God-Controlled Life (Matthew 5:5)
Quintilian, the great Roman teacher of oratory, said of certain of his scholars: ‘They would no doubt be excellent students, if they were not already convinced of their own knowledge.’
Barclay goes on to say:
The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 The Bliss of the God-Controlled Life (Matthew 5:5)
No one can teach people who know it all already. Without humility there can be no such thing as love, for the very beginning of love is a sense of unworthiness. Without humility there can be no true religion, for all true religion begins with a realization of our own weakness and of our need for God. True humanity can only be reached when we are always conscious that we are the creatures and that God is the Creator, and that without God we can do nothing.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
In the New Testament the same Greek word is used in Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am GENTLE and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Meekness is not passivity. It is self-control, but it is more than that. It is the sense of willing submissiveness and humiliation before one who is greater.
Meekness refers to mildness and gentleness of spirit, or humility, but it carries a deeper significance. The OT conception of meekness primarily concerns a person’s attitude toward God rather than toward others — specifically, living in trustful submission to God and seeking to know and do His will, with humility rather than self-assumption and pride.
So what of the promise?
…for they shall inherit the earth.
In our corporate world it is often the brash, the go-getter, the hard charger, the loud, overly confident person that is rewarded. Again, Jesus seems to turn our world on its head, and there is something edenic about this statement.
If we go back to the beginning. Back in Genesis we read, Ge 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Or to simplify,
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, …let them have dominion …over all the earth…”
This is a return to how it began. Humankind, male and female were created to have dominion over the earth, to be in control if you will of the earth. But their authority is not coming from themselves, but it is coming from a position of total submission to their Creator. Clearly that is not where we are today.
Let me ask another question. Have you ever felt the freedom of not caring how something turned out?
Just a couple of weeks ago the Winter Olympics ended and the individual figure skating probably brought out one of the greatest contrasts. In the Men’s skate representing the United States was a young man named, Ilia Malinin, nick-named “The Quad God” for his ability to complete quadruple jumps turning 4 revolutions in the air. On the women’s side was Alyssa Liu, who retired from competitive skating in 2022, took two years off to return in 2024. Both are compelling stories.
Ilia skated with all the pressure of being the expected favorite with 7 quadruple jumps in his planned long program. It had never been done at an Olympics before. Alyssa said almost brazenly, I’m just glad to be here and want to share the sport I love and hope everyone enjoys it. She seemed completely relaxed and unphased by the fact this was an Olympics. Her attitude exemplified her words she would accept whatever came her way. Ultimately Ilia would fail during his program. He would fall on his first two jump attempts. His expression showed how lost he felt. Alyssa would go out and skate with a freedom that was refreshing and give a performance that was breathtaking. It was night and day in the difference between the two. Still, Ilia would define sportsmanship as he congratulated the unexpected winner, with a genuine humility and kindness.
What I think this illustrates the difference of carrying all the weight of pressure verses letting it happen. My friend John who is now home with the Lord, and “Murph” both demonstrated in their lives an absolute trust in others, but there’s is brought on by necessity in their lives.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
You and I are invited to trust in Jesus and trust in the results from Him. Too often we live as if it all depends on us. The burden is not ours to carry, it is the Lord’s who says, Matt 11:28
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Therre is a confidence that Jesus has already taken care of it. There is a freedom in trust. Two times I remember feeling this type of faith that I continue to strive for:
Seminary - I was studying for a final and was just worn out, I was at the end of myself. I went next door where it so happend the TA for the class was my neighbor. He asked why I was studying so hard, I only needed a little more than a 100 points to pass the class and I was taking the class credit no credit. The final was worth 400 points, and I only needed 400 to pass. I was already just shy of 300.
The other time was during an interview. I simply felt called to ministry and trusted God was leading me where I should go.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
