Matthew 5:1-2, 5 (NIV) 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying: 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) 28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Central to Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God was the necessity of love, and central to love was the practice of meekness. Most of us know that meekness has a negative image in our day. It is not even a word used very often, but would generally be used to describe someone who could use a good serving of assertiveness training. Even when we turn to the Greek word for meekness it is still not very flattering. The word was used primarily to describe a wild animal that had been tamed to work in the service of his master. So, the most literal definition is a “God-tamed person.” Meekness is a disposition of life which enables the soul to bow without complaining to the will of God in the hard and perplexing experiences of life.
Beneath the veneer of most of our lives there is a resistance to God that needs to be broken and tamed. Jesus, especially during His trial, exhibited meekness. Scripture says Moses was very meek, more than all the men that were on the face of the earth. And what did this meek man accomplish, under the taming power of God? He found a people in bondage to the most powerful nation of the world, and he let them free.
What does meekness look like in action? Meekness is that “broken and contrite heart” that God desires. Meekness means our passions and desires and energy are harnessed to accomplish His work in the world. And, perhaps most importantly in our relationship to God, meekness gives us the patience and power to withstand the unfolding of God’s hidden future for each of us.
The inward sign of meekness is a quietness that waits on God and readiness to respond to His slightest nudge. The outward sign of meekness is freedom from the need to dominate, manipulate, retaliate, or to put someone in their place. A meek person can never be humiliated since they are humble already. Rejection and mistreatment simply have no power to penetrate their God given self-esteem.
But Jesus says the chief end of meekness is that the meek will inherit the earth. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly.’ His yoke and His teaching are one and the same. The yoke is the working instrument. Jesus does not say, have a seat in the pew and let me teach you a thing or two. The yoke will teach us what to do. It will enable us to harness all the faculties of life to accomplish God’s will for ourselves and for others. Do we dare take Him up on it?
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 5, 1989
copyright Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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