DAY 5 – Meekness is Not Weakness | 21-Day Devotional on Jesus’ Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:5, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Many years ago, I watched a television commercial in which a young Charles Barclay said, “The meek may inherit the earth, but they won’t get the ball from me."

In first two Beatitudes Jesus used words like poor, mourning, and in the third, meek. In the fourth Beatitude Jesus used the words hunger and thirst. It seems that Jesus turned conventional wisdom and normal thinking upside down. He elevated “weak” words. 

In popular culture, especially in a hyper-masculine culture, there’s nothing about being meek that is admired. Meekness is often seen as weakness.

There is nothing weak about Jesus or the Kingdom of God. A “meek” Jesus did the following as recorded by Matthew:
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:12-13)

I like to also point out that these were not folding chairs and card tables that He turned over. These had to be benches and tables of wood and stone––heavy items! This indicates Jesus’ physical strength and likely strong physique. Something else we don’t attribute to “meek” men.

So true meekness must be something other and timidity and inaction. We see Jesus’ righteous indignation (angry with good reason) and bold actions to address injustice within a holy space.

The definition of the words meek and meekness are deeper than we usually think. Being meek involves gentleness, but not without conviction and willingness to take action.

Barclay’s Commentary offers this interpretation based on the Greek word for “meek” πραΰς (praus) as it was understood in the First Century: “Blessed is the man who is always angry at the right time, and never angry at the wrong time.”

(Note that Jesus understood and spoke primarily in Hebrew, as well as Aramaic, Greek, and some Latin. What became New Testament Gospels and Epistles were written in Greek with some phrases from other languages)

True meekness has the components of self-control and having a proper disposition for the occasion. Meek people have humility which banishes all pride.

A person who is meek, as Jesus defined and demonstrated it, is someone God can entrust with inheriting the Earth. A meek person is someone who can become responsible for things far greater than himself. For example, we would never want someone too rash or too timid to handle important business. Meekness is essential to caring for people, serving people, and even correcting people.

There is truly no weakness within genuine meekness!

REFLECTION QUESTION:
Why is there no weakness within meekness? Provide an example of true meekness from your life.

ACTION ITEMS BASED ON TODAY'S LESSON:

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RESOURCES:
• Message by Dr. Tony Evans, "Blessed Are the Spiritual Beggars" (Matthew 5:3)
https://go.tonyevans.org/tony-evans-sermons/blessed-are-the-spiritual-beggars

• Follow this link to a resource from Zondervan Academic on the Beatitutes:
https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/beatitudes

• Follow this link to a resource on the Beatitudes from BibleGateway:https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2022/08/what-are-the-beatitudes-why-are-the-beatitudes-important/

• Follow THIS LINK (or copy/paste) to a resource from Zondervan Academic: https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/beatitudes

• Follow THIS LINK (or copy/paste) to the web version of Barclay's Commentary on the New Testament: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb.html

• THIS LINK is a downloadable PDF of Barclay's Commentary

 

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Listen to the Teaching

“The Beatitudes: Blessing on Purpose”