Part 3 of an
8 part series
Jesus said, “blessed are the meek, for they will
inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
If you’ve been reading
along in this series with us so far, you will remember that these “beatitudes”
that Jesus spoke to the people were complete reversals of what they were used
to, and what seemed natural. Today’s statement is no different.
The meek will inherit
the earth. A good definition of the word ‘meek’ is ‘gentle or humble’.
For the people of
Jesus’ day hearing this part of their meekness was as an oppressed people, and
the idea of inheriting the earth would have been understood literally in terms
of their homeland. But as in the rest of these sayings, Jesus is obviously
talking about something more than just the temporal and physical.
The reversal here is
in terms of power and control. It is the strong and powerful that are doing the
possessing. It is the wealthy, militaristic that make the decisions for the
meek to follow. I am not an economist, but I read an article that half of the
world’s wealth is owned by 1% of the people[i].
But meekness is not
something imposed upon us by others, meekness is an attitude characteristic of
the soul. It is having a gentle and humble nature, not being a doormat for
anyone to walk all over, but a meekness that permeates who you are and into the
lives of the others.
Jesus lived this.
Later in Matthew we hear Jesus saying, “take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29a).
Being meek is about
being more like Jesus. It is seeing in others the image of God, and loving and
forgiving them in spite of their actions.
Meekness is not weakness. It is power under control.
The whole “inheriting
the earth” thing is what the people hearing Jesus probably liked to hear. These
people had been living a promise expecting that as they awaited a Messiah who
would save them. Ironically, that Messiah was standing right in front of them,
but for many of them what they wanted saved from was different than what Jesus
was going to save them/us from.
They wanted a military
messiah to take their land back, and bring back power to the people. Jesus, on
the other hand, is talking about meekness to inherit the earth.
“Inherit”.
That’s an interesting
word, too. To inherit something means that it has been passed on to a future
generation from someone who owned it, or possessed it.
At the church where I
pastor, there was a wonderful woman of God who made plans to leave her house
and land to the church when she passed away. She didn’t have any children, so
this was how she wanted her legacy to be remembered. It was her house, so she
could do with it as she liked. In a sense, the church “inherited” this gift
from her.
Throughout the Old
Testament we read of inheritances being left to children by their fathers.
These were gifts that were passed on from the person to owned them to the next
generation. It had nothing to do with power, simply family.
Inheriting the earth
is not about power, but rather about something that is handed down from the One
who owns it and can pass it on to His children. So it’s not about power, it’s
about family.
A meek and gentle
spirit does not come naturally to us. It is when we spend time with Jesus in
prayer, Bible reading, and service to others that we learn from Him and begin
to become gentle and humble in heart ourselves.
[i] https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/oct/13/half-world-wealth-in-hands-population-inequality-report
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