The Beatitudes Series Part 3
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth
by Rebecca Kozman
Picture this.
You’re sitting on a hill in the middle of a little village overlooking the Sea of Galilee, looking up at Christ on a mountain preaching something called the Beatitudes. You live in a time where there is no understanding of weakness or meekness. No, this is a time where there is more of an understanding of power, a world ruled over by Caesar’s. A world where armies made the people subject to their sheer force. This is a world that turns on the tables of power. This is a world where the powerful were the ones that “inherited the earth.”
So if you’re a villager, living in a time that only cares about power and authority, why should you even bother to care about Christ’s preaching? Why should you care about inheriting the earth if it only goes to the powerful? The message Christ shares regarding this beatitude is preached within a context. He’s not preaching to the rich and powerful, He’s not preaching to the people that had the ability to make a phone call to make something happen. He is preaching to villagers, a simple class of people.
Christ is saying to the simpletons, ‘If you’re a meek person, not only will you be happy, but you’ll have the type of life, the type of power, that transcends that of Caesar.’ Every time Jesus preaches a sermon, He’s not just preaching to our life in this world, He’s preaching to something greater. I don’t know about you, but I’m convinced that those who inherit the earth are sometimes those whose stories are never known on the earth. One day, when we’re standing in Heaven, don’t be surprised to find out that the little person sitting on the hill was the unlikely character God used to change history.
So it all sounds nice and dandy to be meek so we can inherit the earth, but what does being ‘meek’ even look like? The Cambridge English Dictionary defines ‘meek’ as being quiet, gentle, without resentment. The Biblical understanding of being meek is best defined in Psalm 37. Let’s put together a portrait of a meek person using this allusive psalm;
Verse 5 tells us that a meek person puts their trust in God, trusting He will work for them when others oppose them with their authority.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
Going into verse 7 we find that a meek person is still before God and waits patiently for Him.
7 Rest
in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Not only that, but they don’t fret themselves
over the wicked who get in their way and they refrain from anger.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it
only causes harm.
9For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.
And finally, King David says, “The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (sound familiar?). If we backtrack and take a look at verse 9 it says, “Those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land.” The portrait of meekness begins by trusting God. Then it commits its way to the Lord in His confidence, and it waits patiently and quietly, not giving way to anger when faced with opposition and power.
With this in mind, what effect does Jesus want this promise to have on the followers? He wants the promise to give them strength to continue in their meekness, that what is seen as weakness by the world is strength in the Lord. The promise of the inheritance of the earth to the meek was intended to strengthen the meek to endure when times get tough. The natural human inclination is to defend one’s self; fight for your rights. But there is blessing (i.e. beatitude) in the one that meekly refrains.
All things are yours, “whether Paul of Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 18-23). You don’t need the vain pleasures of this world because God has already made you an heir of the world. The quietness and openness and vulnerability of meekness is a very beautiful yet painful concept. It goes against all that we are by our sinful nature. It requires supernatural help. And that help is available, thank God!