Blessed are the meek
“Do you ever look at your boss and think, how did you get there? I should be managing you, not you me. Or do you ever look at a political leader and wonder, how come you got elected?
We like to think that rising to the top is always about talent, gift, capability. Sometimes, it’s not the cream that floats to the top, it’s the dross, the scum.
Whether it’s politics, business, media or any other sphere of life, we can easily find examples of those who hold positions of considerable power, and who personally gain much from this. They wield considerable influence and amass great personal fortunes. The few, not the many.
Who wins in life? Who gets to be ‘top dog’? 
Put it another way: who gets to inherit the earth?
2,000 years ago, people were wondering the same. Who wins in life?
The Roman Army had marched across Europe, into Africa and Asia, conquering nations, taking prisoners, plundering resources, and placing their stooges in positions of local control. Emperor Caesar had ‘inherited the earth.’ And so had those willing to declare ‘Caesar is Lord’.  Those, like the local tax collectors, that colluded with Empire.
The ‘few’ got to inherit the earth, at the expense of the many. Sound familiar?
But Jesus saw things differently. In His Kingdom (not Empire):
•	the first shall be last and the last shall be first
•	love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
In His Upside-Down Kingdom, those who ‘inherit the earth’ are not the powerful elite, it’s the meek. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
‘Meek’ sounds an old fashioned word. We don’t use it much today.
We mistakenly think meekness is weakness; that it’s about being mild-mannered, timid, passive, a pushover, even a doormat… Nothing could be further from what Jesus was saying. For Jesus, meekness takes guts. It was all about strength – strength under control.
The Greek word we translate as ‘meek’, ‘praus’, was used to describing the taming of a wild horse. Strength under control.
A year after we got married, Sally and I went on holiday to the Pyrenees on the French/  Spanish border. It felt very exotic and, for us, off the beaten track. We stayed in a dilapidated gite, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, plastic sheeting for a window that we had to climb through to reach a flat roof that we sat out on. One day the Tour de France came through the mountain village. We spent literally hours waiting by the roadside, ready to take photos. Only for it to… WHOOSH! Up in the mountains we swam in a lake, with huge frogs swimming alongside us. It all seemed very different to Black Country Stourbridge where we were living at the time.
One day we saw posters that suggested there would be Ostrich racing. We walked up a remote track onto a plateau and, sure enough, there was a makeshift race track. But before the Ostrich racing, there was wild pony riding. Feisty things. Anyone could step forward to try their luck. So I did. I can’t tell you how many times I was thrown from mine. That pony was not ridable. It was NOT meek.
Jesus says, if you feel trodden on, thrown off, put down, God is with you.  The God who made all of this, the Cosmos, the 100 billion galaxies, He is on YOUR side.
Jesus was referencing Psalm 37. If you’re faced with powerful or evil people, neither fear them nor be envious of them, “For like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon wither away" 
Instead, stay true: trust in the Lord, and continue to do good. Don’t sink to their level and respond with anger or wrath. But equally, don’t fret. Be neither aggressive nor passive. Don’t even mix-up the two and become passive-aggressive. Instead, be meek because ”the meek will inherit the land.” Psalm 37:11
Aggressive people respond with anger, violence – in deeds or words. Coming from a place of insecurity and fear, they lash out. Passive people respond with silence and inaction. Coming also from a place of insecurity and fear, they shout down. Both extremes are damaging and driven by personal insecurities and fears.  I’m scared, so I lash out. I’m scared, so I don’t speak out. 
The better way is to be assertive. Or, if you like, meek. To be assertive is to be confident in who you are, comfortable in your own skin, secure in your own worth as a human beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God.
Imagine I’m threatened whilst walking down the street. Who knows how I’ll respond? Aggressively? Passively? Either way, I’m scared, fearful of how this could end.  But if, instead of being alone, I’m out with my best mates, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Lennox Lewis, now I’m no longer feeling so threatened. I feel at peace. I don’t have to be either aggressive or passive, I’m with my Trinity – Tyson, Anthony & Lennox. I’m OK.
The meek are neither aggressive nor passive. They are those who know their true identity as children of God. That the true Trinity, Father, Son & Holy Spirit, has their back
Jesus was saying, you don't need to force your way to the top. You don't need to fight for your land, you don't need to pick up your sword and start swinging, because by doing that (even if you do it in the name of God) you will not be doing things God’s way. Love Wins.
The Kingdom way is:
•	when someone slaps you down, stand up to them as their equal, by turning the other cheek
•	when forced by Invaders to carry their heavy backpack for a mile, rise above them and go the extra mile
•	love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.
Jesus was speaking to those who felt oppressed. Put down. Don’t be a doormat but don’t sink to their level either. Show that Love Wins.
This radical, revolutionary idea inspired Dr Martin Luther King, when he said:
"To our most bitter opponents we say: "Throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our houses and threaten our children and we will still love you. Beat us and leave us half dead, and we will still love you. But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory."
Jesus was / is the ultimate example of meekness. He was King Jesus, God, the Son, the Creator of ALL things.  And how did He show His disciples the full extent of His love? He washed their feet. Johns says, in Chapter 13:
“Jesus knew the Father had put all things under His power, that He had come from God and that He was returning to God.”
He was secure in His identity, in who He was. He knew The Trinity had His back. What do you do when you’ve inherited the whole earth?  You wash people feet. At the end of a hot day, the disciple’s feet would have been hum-dingers! Dirty, sweaty, smelly. You knew your status by who was doing the foot washing. Whether others were washing your feet, or you were washing theirs.
It was Strength-Under-Control Jesus, Meek Jesus, who washed feet. John says, Jesus got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round His waist. After that He pored water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel wrapped around His waist. He didn’t let a small matter that He was God stop Him from washing dirty feet.  It’s as if He put aside His status and soaked up their mess, cleansing them by soaking up their mess onto Himself.
Years later, Paul said, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death – even death on a Cross.”
We struggle sometimes with tasks that we consider beneath us. That’s not my role. What will people think of me. We’re too proud or insecure.
When you know God’s got your back, when you know your true identify as a Child of God, that your life is measured by eternity, not just by the here and now, then we become secure enough to embrace meekness. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
When you woke up today you made a choice to get dressed. You decided what clothes to put on. There’s a reason why most of you don’t walk out of your home butt-naked. In the same way, Paul says, you need to decide what virtues to put on. Choose meekness.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, MEEKNESS and patience.” Colossians 3:12
Oh, and by the way, meekness works. Here we are, 2,000 years later talking about Jesus. Almost everyone on the planet has heard of Him. It’s only history geeks that can name the various Roman Emperors and rulers. They’ve become a footnote in the story of God.
Blessed are the meek for they do indeed inherit the earth.
DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk