Beattitudes- Blessed Are The Meek by Chuck Taylor

Beatitudes of Jesus: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Ah, I can hear the reaction now, “Boy, did they give that one to the wrong guy!” Perhaps so. For more than thirty years, I was a Special Agent with the United States Treasury Department. Occasionally, we kicked down doors with guns in hand. Doesn’t sound like the best place to look for meek folks!

Also for more than thirty years, I’ve been a firefighter and emergency medical technician. I’ve been inside dozens of burning buildings and treated hundreds of sick and injured patients, some of them so ill or so grievously injured that they did not survive. That doesn’t seem much like a task for a meek guy, either.

At my age, it’s one-year-at-a-time, but last summer I played my 51st season of competitive softball. Over the past six decades, I’ve competed in softball, soccer, football, racquetball, volleyball, and nearly every other sport that has winners and losers. If you were to ask those I’ve played with or against, I’m afraid they’d all say much the same things: He plays to win! He’d thump a little old lady at bingo if he could find a way.

Obviously, there has been a mistake here. There has got to be someone better to explain what Jesus meant when He talked about the meek. If the meek will inherit the earth, this guy’s not even going to get a garden plot. Absolutely! I’m certain that there are many who can better explain what Jesus had in mind. True to my “un-meek” nature, though, I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

Let’s think about Jesus himself. Are you familiar with the story of Jesus and the moneychangers at the temple in Jerusalem? (John 2:13-16) So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. Whips? Overturned tables? Scattered coins?
Or think of Peter, about whom Jesus said, “. . . on this rock will I build my church . . .” (Matthew 16:18) Think of Peter’s reaction when Jesus is arrested. (John 18:1-11) Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. Sword? Cut off ear? Yeah, this Peter’s a really meek guy. No doubt about that! Perfect guy to head up the church!

The Bible is full of other examples – King David (among other things, he kills Goliath with a stone 1 Samuel 17), Paul (he is stripped and beaten, yet keeps on preaching Acts 16:22-43), and Mary (she undoubtedly endures great scorn and derision when she is found to be pregnant, but not married Matthew 1:18-25, yet she and Joseph don’t take the easy way out). Oddly, it seems that we find many of our great Biblical role models to be anything but meek. What do we make of all this? Did Jesus get it wrong? If we take these examples and set them beside what Jesus says about the meek inheriting the earth, it becomes clear that He simply cannot be talking about weak, Caspar Milquetoast-type individuals. So, what is He talking about?

Jesus is talking about the spirit, the soul. He is talking about a meekness before God. He is talking about meekness in our relationships with each other. He is talking about putting others before ourselves and God before all else. When Jesus explains to His disciples that He must suffer many things and be killed, Peter becomes upset. Peter takes Jesus aside and says in effect, “Lord, say it ain’t so!” And Jesus’ not-so-meek response to his friend Peter? "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." (Mark 8:31-38) Whoa!! To Jesus, nothing was more important than the will of God.

Jesus was not a meek man, but He was meek of spirit before God. He put God’s will before his own in all things. Even as Jesus faced death on a cross for our sins, not his own, He was able to pray, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:39-46) In his willingness to die for our sins, Jesus put our needs before his own and God’s will before all else. He asks no less of us.

So, perhaps there’s hope for me yet. I may have to adjust my attitude about the little old lady, but, still, in Jesus’ upside-down world, there’s hope. And there’s hope for you, too. Pray that you will put others before yourself. Pray that you will put God before all else. Pray for meekness.

Reflection
How will your daily relationships be different if you consistently put other’s needs before your own?
What will putting other’s needs (not necessarily their desires) before your own mean in day-to-day, real-life terms?
How will putting God before all else change what you do tomorrow? Next week? Next year?
How does a person who is “meek of spirit before God” differ from one who is not? Can you and I see that difference?
What part does prayer play in becoming “meek” – as Jesus used the word?