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March 12, 2017 - Blessed Are the Meek
Preacher: Audrey Hollenberg-Duffey
Scripture: Matthew 5:5
When I was in Israel/Palestine back in January of 2012, I had the opportunity to visit the
place where some believe Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount took place. It was a beautiful place on
the northern side of the Sea of Galilee. The actual location of the sermon was believed to have
occurred part of the way up a large hill. For some, this explained why in the Gospel of Matthew,
Jesus’ sermon is called the Sermon on the Mount; yet in the Gospel of Luke, a very similar
sermon is called the Sermon on the Plain. It all depends on what direction you came from. If
you came up the hill, it was the Sermon on the Mount. If you came down the hill, it was the
Sermon on the Plain.
On this spot sat a church called the “Church of the Beatitudes.” At the center of the
church, if you looked up, there was an octagon cutout that raised above the rest of the ceiling into
a steeple. On each of the eight sides of the steeple was a window with the words of a beatitude
written in Latin. While previously being the location of a 4th Century church honoring the
location of the Sermon on the Mount, the modern church building had been built in the 1930’s.
And you will never guess who commissioned this church to be built. It was commissioned by
none other than Italian Fascist Dictator, Benito Mussolini. This is not a joke!
I can still remember standing in this beautiful spot on the hill looking at this ornate
church, thinking about the significance of the Beatitudes when our tour-guide shared that this
church had been commissioned by Mussolini — a church that reminds us of how Christ blesses
the underdog. A man of great power, who often abused his power, with unintended irony, built a
church honoring the powerless, the same people he abused and manipulated. The irony hits me
especially hard with our verse for this morning: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the
earth.”
Too often, when we think of the word “meek,” we think of people who are soft-spoken,
maybe even a little shy and cowardly. We think of people who are doormats, overly submissive
and compliant to their own detriment. We think of someone who is weak. Why would Christ
bless these people? How can these people be bold enough to inherit the earth? This definition of
meek drastically contradicts 2 Timothy 1:7, “for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but
rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”
Australian author John Dickson once wrote, “One of the reasons I avoided taking Jesus
seriously for so long was the impression that he was weak. As a young Aussie bloke, ‘strength’
and ‘power’ were important qualities for me. My hero was more likely to be someone like
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films than the Jesus of the Hollywood films. The
thought that Jesus walked around in robes talking about ‘love’ and ‘peace’ all the time was not a
strong drawing. The few things I had heard of Jesus’ teaching confirmed this impression. He
apparently said things like, ‘If someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left as
well.’ As a budding martial arts freak, this seemed ridiculous. He also said, ‘Blessed are the
meek.’ As far as I was concerned, “meek” meant weak. And then there was all that stuff about
‘becoming like a little child.’ I had reached puberty! There was no way I was going to retreat
back into childhood! This impression was soon blown out of the water, however. The day I
started reading the biographies of Jesus’ life for myself, I instantly discovered that ‘weak’ is just
about the last thing you could call Jesus.”
Today’s verse from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is very close to the words of Psalm 37,
so close in fact, that most scholars believe Jesus was quoting this scripture. The Psalm explains
March 12, 2017 - Blessed Are the Meek
in more detail the characteristics of one who is meek, so let’s listen to the context of Psalm 37:111 to see if it might give us some insight into what Jesus means:
“Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not be envious of wrongdoers,
for they will soon fade like the grass,
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make your vindication shine like the light,
and the justice of your cause like the noonday.
Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
over those who carry out evil devices.
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For the wicked shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land,
and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.”
Nowhere in this text do we hear anything about God’s desire for us to be spineless. For those of
us that struggle with shyness or with a spirit too ready to defer to others, this Psalm and the
Sermon on the Mount are not an opportunity to pat ourselves on the back for our apprehension.
If we use the Psalm as a “primer on meekness,” we hear the call to be still, to be patient — to not
fret but to trust. We hear the call to refrain from quick responses to fear and anger. We hear the
call to not respond to the wicked with more wickedness, but to wait on God’s vindication. There
is nothing weak about living in this way. Instead, it takes great strength to temper our natural
response to difficult times with God’s will.
There are only two people in Scripture who are described as meek — Moses and Jesus.
Meekness must have very little to do with being sheepish and self-effacing. According to author
Carolyn Arends, the word “meek” is associated with domesticated animals. Makes you really
want to be classified as meek doesn’t it? But if you think about it, a beast of burden, like an ox,
is incredibly strong, but it’s a harnessed kind of strength. The ox is not devoid of strength but
has strength that is subject to the proper authority.1
Psalm 37, and likewise this beatitude from the Sermon on the Mount, is about strength in
meekness. It’s about trusting God so much that we don’t try to do God’s job, but rather wait
with patient faith. This world prides itself in self-assertion, but faith calls us to look to God “to
shape and to guarantee our destiny.”2
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2
“Strengthen meekness: what to do with anger that saps strength” by Carolyn Arends
“Matthew Believers Church Commentary” by Richard Gardner
March 12, 2017 - Blessed Are the Meek
All of us have gone through times in our lives when our circumstances or the direction of
our life seems out of our control. During those times, it is easy to depend on our own strength,
our own abilities, our own will. What often happens during these difficult times is in our
desperation, we grasp at every bit of power we can find and in the process, we end up hurting
ourselves and the people around us. If this season of life is short-lived then we may get away
with trying to take matters into our own hands. But if this season is long, then we will most
likely get to the point when we can no longer maintain this false-self of strength and security and
we will finally succumb to our brokenness, whether or not we do so willingly.
However, if we can truly turn the control we so desperately grasp for, over to God, we no
longer waste our energy on things we cannot control and in turn, we free up our hand to be put to
God’s plow. This does not mean that God magically removes the burden. Instead, we are
invited to allow God to bear our burden. Christ invites us to come to him when we are weary
and heavy laden because his yoke is easy and his burden is light. It is easy and light because it is
a burden that does not have to be carried in isolation. The meek who accept the freedom of a
lighter burden are the ones who become a vessel for God’s power, rather than vainly forcing and
hoping to maintain their own power.
I can’t help but think of the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz. This lion, who wants
to be the king of the forest like other lions, is unreasonably fearful. When the Cowardly Lion
finally is able to ask the wizard in Emerald City to give him the gift of courage, the wizard tells
him. “You are of the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger, you
have no courage. You are confusing courage with wisdom.” He then gives the lion a Medal of
Honor “for meritorious conduct, for extraordinary valor, and conspicuous bravery against wicked
witches.” It was only in looking back that this lovably, meek character could see the bravery and
courage he already possessed. He was not to be like the notorious lions who won their kingship
over the forest by the fear they illicit in others, but because of his gentleness and his goodness.
Both Psalm 37 and today’s beatitude use the word “inherit” because the earth is not
something we should strive to control or hope to earn. If we are proud, arrogant, violent,
domineering, then we will not inherit the earth because we will always be in opposition with it
and the people who dwell in it as we try to gain and maintain a power that is not ours to have.
For the meek, the earth is something that is received, not sought, because the meek know the
power of love that binds the world together. This is the only way the earth will willingly submit
to God’s power -- God’s love made strong in our meekness.
Fellow beasts of burden — fellow oxen — be meek! Do not resolve yourselves to be
weak or timid or cowardly, lashing out like a lion hungry for power. But receive the invitation to
find freedom in the hands of an all-powerful God. Harness your strength so that you may work
the plow of the one who is gracious and loving. May we find God’s strength in our meekness,
and in doing so may we receive the inheritance of God the Father, Creator of all. “Blessed are
the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”