Meekness

In these we see that the meek shall inherit the world, are given an illustration and then are given His example.

Jesus stood in the midst of a crowd of thousands and looked to see His disciples, 100's of them, then He peered into the souls of the twelve. I wonder if they thought He said the words just to them. "You are fortunate if you are poor in spirit because yours is the kingdom of heaven. How auspicious it is for those who can mourn for you will know when I comfort you." They probably thought this was good comfort and a kingdom are ours because we follow Jesus. "The earth shall be yours, count it as your fortune, . . . " They wondered what they had to do to gain the earth, help Jesus overthrow Rome? Maybe gather this crowd together and march towards Jerusalem and claim it as ours? Maybe, . . . " . . . when you are meek." What!?! Not by power but by meekness. Not by revenge but by “the humble and gentle attitude which expresses itself in a patient submissiveness to offense, free from malice and desire for revenge” (P. Leivestad, "The Meekness and Gentleness of Christ, II Cor. X. 1," NTS, 12 [Jan. 1966], p. 159).

It must have caused Thomas to doubt just a little, after all this was so much unlike the coming Messiah. I can picture powerful Peter at this point going through a mental Bible study trying to figure out why the meek shall inherit the earth and not the powerful. Can you see him running through his mind the saints of the past who conquered the world trying to prove Jesus wrong. As he begins to think, I can see him raising his hand slightly trying to catch Jesus' attention without getting caught. We have all seen this. I am in a college freshman sociology class at CSUDH and I have to laugh at times. They want to refute their teacher but are afraid to let him see their hand. After class they say they would have questioned him but he just didn't call on them to speak. This is what is see Peter doing.

I. He thinks of Moses, the man who overthrew Pharaoh. Now here was a powerful man. A man who parted the waters. Drove nearly 3 million people out of Egypt and into the land God had for them. His hand raises a little higher to show Jesus the power of Moses.

He works the argument in his mind. Let's see, Moses brought plagues to Egypt: there was blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock killed, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn. Now that took power. He had to walk before Pharaoh. He rebuked and even killed some who were going against God by making that idol. He conquered nations who stood in the Israelites way.

As Peter thinks through all the powerful deeds that Moses did, trying to support his thesis that power overcomes the earth not meekness, something defeats his purpose. Being the good Jew that he was, Peter had to memorize portions of the Bible. One of those portions is called the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Can you picture his dismay as he recounted Numbers 12.3. "Now Moses was a very meek man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." In the words of Homer Simpson: "Doh!" He lowers his hand just a little, hoping Jesus didn't see it.

There blows the theory using Moses as an example. But how did Moses do all this if he was the meekest man on earth? Moses tells us himself: it is God working through me. In Deuteronomy 32, Moses swan song for the world, he recounts what had happened to Israel those past forty years. He recounts everything as if God did it and that Moses was the blessed instrument that God chose to work through.

II Okay, Moses won't work. But the powerful Simon Peter still couldn't believe that meekness inherits the earth and not power. Let's look at David, the greatest king to ever live. The Enforcer of Israel. He certainly was powerful and greatly feared. Do you see Peter getting his confidence back as he raises his hand a little higher?

David, the Giant slayer, the Moabite destroyer, the Philistine Conqueror. The Uniter of Israel. How can you say he was meek? He inherited the earth. This angry man who would think nothing of killing a fool who would not share his bread with others, who would execute a sheep thief at the drop of a hat. See his hand go up. No way to refute this: David was not meek, and he inherited the earth!

Just when Jesus was turning toward Peter the Scripture he had memorized as a child came to his heart. Another portion of Scripture the Israelites memorized was the Psalms. Maybe Psalm 37 came pouring in like a flood:

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself 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 do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.

To Peter it seemed that meekness hardly seemed the proper weapon to deal with enemies. Not by revenge but by the humble and gentle attitude which expresses itself in a patient submissiveness to offense, free from malice and desire for revenge (P. Leivestad, "The Meekness and Gentleness of Christ, II Cor. X. 1," NTS, 12 [Jan. 1966], p. 159).

III I think Peter realized he better not try to refute his Master on that one. Maybe he learned the truth that the meek shall inherit the earth. Peter gained his composure only to hear Jesus continuing His teaching. "You have heard it said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'" That is what Moses said, Peter thought with an idea of raising his hand. "But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also." Ouch.

Just when the powerful Peter was grasping this. Just when he was getting the idea that the meek shall inherit the earth, he hears Jesus speak one more time: Matthew 8.20 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

You may not see it, but I think Peter raised his hand high. Peter knew about the Son of Man. He knew the prevailing thought on the Son of Man. Jesus called Himself the Son of Man. In the NT that title is used 83 times and eighty of those times Jesus speaks it of Himself, the other times others call Jesus the Son of Man. How can meekness be used to inherit the earth if Jesus is the Son of Man?

Literature of that time tells us the thought of the Son of Man. These are taken from the Book of Enoch:

And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen shall put down the kings from their thrones, and shall loosen the reins of the strong and break the teeth of sinners and he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms because they do not extol and praise him (46).

When they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory, and the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who was hidden (62).

Meek indeed! How can Jesus be saying that it is not by revenge but by “the humble and gentle attitude which expresses itself in a patient submissiveness to offense, free from malice and desire for revenge” (P. Leivestad, "The Meekness and Gentleness of Christ, II Cor. X. 1," NTS, 12 [Jan. 1966], p. 159) that inherits the earth? He is the Son of Man.

This thought was confirmed in Peter's mind almost everyday he was with Jesus--it is power, not meekness; it is might, not humility. He got the idea from Jesus Himself:

MAT 9:6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home."

He tells the Pharisees that they are wrong for He is Lord, He is the General of all! If that ain't power, what is it?

MAT 13:41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

MAT 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

MAT 19:28 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

MAT 16:28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

MAT 24:27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

MAT 24:30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

MAT 24:37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

MAT 24:39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

MAT 24:44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

MAT 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

MAT 26:64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

When He spoke in terms of coming in great power and authority, Peter could see it happening.

But those words of the meek inheriting the earth came to him almost as often as the power and strength.

MAT 26:2 "As you know, the Passover is two days away--and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

MAT 26:45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

MAT 17:12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."

MAT 17:22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.

MAT 20:18 "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death

MAT 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

To Peter that was an incredible contradiction, an impossible unreality, a terse involvement of oxymoron. How can the king serve? The Son of Man be betrayed? The Conqueror killed? The High and Almighty mocked and spat upon?

But we know from our Bible that was the way it happened. An incredible contradiction: the Lord the server; the last first; meekness inheriting the earth; Jesus, the God-man.

It doesn't end there. I hope you have seen something of what meekness means. Not by revenge but by the humble and gentle attitude which expresses itself in a patient submissiveness to offense, free from malice and desire for revenge is the definition we gave for meekness. We saw it in Moses. He lived out the command of God and allowed God, the avenger, to do His work through Moses. We saw meekness in David. He knew that a key to righteousness was not retaliation but patient submissiveness to God's greater will. In no way were these two passive towards the sin around them, no they rebuked sinners, yet in humility. Paul tells us this right after the Fruit of the Spirit. He says in Galatians 6.1: Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who display the Fruit of the Spirit should restore him in meekness. As a side: the etymological origin of meekness in relation to frijon, frionds, Freund, friend. It denoted gentleness, that's why the NIV translates it as gentleness. This helps me understand when Jesus said He is the Friend of sinners. By nature Jesus is meek, and therefore friendly. But more than this: both David and Moses were called the friends of God.

Do you think Peter ever learned the lesson of humility? Let's read 1 Peter 3.15: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with meekness and respect. I think he did.

IV How do we respond in meekness? Well, we know we don't sit passively by and let sin go crazy. We rebuke and restore. We know that meekness isn't non-anger for Jesus became angry righteously. We know that meekness is not weakness, for Jesus blew them out of that Temple. We know meekness is not a soft voice for Moses could speak to 3 million with no microphone. We know that meekness is not taking a back seat for David was King over Israel. Meekness then for us is doing the work of God as He has delivered it to us, realizing who we are in Jesus and how we are to relate to others in light of who we are in Him. Allow the Scripture read earlier illustrate meekness.

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' "'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Jesus told this story as the last one before a friendly audience after this He entered His last painful week. Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a migrant worker seeking work and mostly getting none. We have all seen the people who wait on corners early in the morning waiting for someone to bring them work. We also know that there is not enough work out there for everybody. Can you imagine being out there with an older gentleman working as a team. You are with him because he has experience and you are strong. But nobody wants to pay two people if he can get just one. When the hirers come, they open there truck doors to a gathering of people. Eager people desiring work. The Man comes out stating "we need five people to load trucks." He then calls the names: George, Jack, Slim, Yo-Yo, and Sheckie. It is great to hear your name called, to be someone who was chosen. He doesn't call yours nor your partners. It is as equally painful to realize that you have been overlooked, again.

You're not the only "un-chosen" so you all gather around and make excuses that you really didn't want to work today anyway. People start to leave, but you have no place to go--maybe there will be work later, so you stick around talking about his yesterdays and your tomorrows.

That is what the parable Jesus was telling is all about. These migrant workers got no work. They couldn't go home, for they had no home or they were afraid to face the family, so they hung out at the corner, hoping. The grace of God is seen in the parable. The first and best shift left at 9:00am, the second, mediocre workers were pickup at noon; the bench-warmers, were chosen at 3:00pm. Who would be sticking around for work at 5:00pm. This is what Jesus is saying. These 5:00 shadows had been hanging around the whole day trying to get work, and couldn't. The only thing they could look forward to was a merciful boss giving them a chance they didn't deserve.

This is where the parable should touch home concerning meekness. We are the 5:00 workers. If you don't believe it, read Paul's description of us--filthy, drunkards, objects of wrath (Eph 2.1-3).

Intellect: Do we honestly thing for one minute that we have-or ever will have-a thought He hasn't had?

Willpower: Do we think that God's kingdom will have fallen if we weren't there to hold it up?

We were chosen the same way the 5:00 workers were chosen? Why did He pick you, He wanted to. One day He drove His old pickup truck and called tapped you on the shoulder and called your name. And since that day He has had a place for you to work, a place for you to be, and someone for you to become.

This is the essence of meekness--knowing from where we come, knowing where we are going, and helping Jesus tap people on the shoulder on our way there. Living His righteousness visible through our mouth, eyes and heart.

James 1.21 calls meekness the spirit in which we learn; Paul tells us it is how we are to greet opposition (2 Tim 2.25) and we saw in Peter it is how we witness and in Paul how we correct faults. Luther calls this person as the lord of all, and subject to none; while being the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.

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