BLESSED ARE THE MEEK
Mel Williams       
Watts Street Baptist Church

Near the conclusion of a worship service, the minister turned and reached into a clear bowl of water,
withdrawing a piece of wet greenery from the bowl.  He lifted the sprig of greenery and began walking among
the congregation, tossing drops of water on all of us.  As he came near each of us, we bowed to receive the
gesture and a few drops of water.  As the minister came near me, I had no doubt that I was receiving a
blessing.   It was a simple act and a holy moment.  And it was very clear that the priest was casting blessings
into the room.

When Jesus gave the Beatitudes, he was doing the same thing:  casting blessings into the room!  “Blessed
are you who are poor in spirit.  Blessed are you who mourn.  Blessed are you who are the meek.  Blessed are
you who hunger and thirst for God’s kingdom.”   The word we translate as “blessed” can also be translated as
“happy” or “fortunate.”  But the word “blessing” conveys all those meanings and more.  When we receive
blessing, we receive well-being, confidence, and fullness of life.

The question for today is:  What’s the blessing in meekness?  When a person is described as meek, it’s
probably not much of a compliment.  To be meek is to be weak, and we don’t like meek or weak.  If we say that
someone is meek, we might consider them to be bland, insipid—a Milquetoast character, a doormat.  The
beatitude says that the meek shall inherit the earth.  But a few years ago somebody gave me a CD with a
bouncy quartet singing a parody of this kind of doormat meek person.  The chorus said, “The Meek Shall
Inherit..Nothing.”

That song is a misunderstanding of what Jesus meant when he said “Blessed are the meek.”  Did he mean
that shy, timid, bland people will be blessed?   If this beatitude is the third step in a stairway into the Kingdom,
the God Movement, then “meek” must mean something very different.

In Greek the word for “meek” is praus, which has several meanings.   A major meaning has to do with animals
that have been domesticated—like mules and donkeys.  Clarence Jordan says that meek has to do not with a
meek mule (a spiritless mule) but with a “broke mule.”  In southern farm language a mule is “broke” when it has
been tamed, trained and disciplined.  Clarence said that he once bought a mule in South Georgia, and the
seller told him that the mule wasn’t broke, so he was willing to take $25. off the sale price if Clarence would
break the mule.  Later, Clarence said, “I would have given him $100 to take his old mule back.”

In his quaint, southern way, Clarence re-states the beatitude as “Blessed are the broke.  Not the flat broke, but
those who have been trained to wear the bridle.”  (C. Jordan, p. 64, The Substance of Faith)  Jesus said, “Take
my yoke (my bridle)  upon you, and learn of me.”  

All this talk of mule-breaking is related to meekness.  The meek person is one who has learned self-control;
that person has learned the discipline of being fully in charge of her/his life.  One’s instincts, attitudes, and
passions are under control—bridled—not by some slave driver with a whip. But the meek person is willing to
be led—open to the nudgings and pulls of God’s Spirit.  And the Spirit of God is not so much a harsh,
cumbersome bridle but a chosen, well-fitting connection.  We willingly put on ourselves the bridle of God.  I
choose to take the yoke, the bridle, upon me.  That bridle is not confining and restricting; it frees us to be who
we are created to be.

To be meek then means to be God-connected and God-directed—aligned with God.  To be meek is to be
willing to listen for the next word of direction, to answer to the pull of the bridle.  (William Barclay)

The Greek word for “meek” also invites us to ponder how the Greek philosophers dealt with virtues.  A virtue,
they said, is the mean, the mid-point between two extremes.  If we think of meekness as a virtue, then the
mean would be between excessive anger and a complete lack of anger. In psychological terms, we might see
the extremes being arrogance and passive aggression, and the mean would be a healthy assertiveness.

In a sense Jesus is saying in this beatitude “Blessed is the one who knows when it’s appropriate to feel and
express anger.” (from Evelyn Mattern, p. 57, Blessed Are You:  The Beatitudes and Our Survival)  

In other words, the meek person gets angry appropriately and uses the anger as energy for change.  Two clear
models of meekness in the Bible are Moses and Jesus.  The Book of Numbers describes Moses as “meek
above all people.”  (Numbers 12:3)  Now if we use the old Milquetoast understanding of meek for Moses, we’d
probably hear Moses going to Pharaoh and saying, “Good morning, Mr. Pharaoh.  Would you mind, please sir,
letting my people go out on a little two-hour picnic?”  That’s not meekness.  What Moses did was to walk in
there and say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord.  Let my people go!”  That’s being meek.  (from Clarence
Jordan, pp. 63-64, The Substance of Faith)

There’s a forcefulness, a strength, in Moses the Meek.  And we see the same in Jesus. He says of himself, “I
am meek and humble of heart.”  (Matt. 11:29)  How did Jesus express his meekness, his alignment with
God?   He showed appropriate anger when he turned over the tables in the temple.  “You have turned the
house of God into a den of thieves.”  Later, when his opponents began mounting a case against him, Jesus
heads to Jerusalem—on a donkey, and that choice is quite intentional.  Because of his alignment with God,
Jesus chooses to offer himself, to confront the authorities, to stand against a hostile Roman government

Jesus is willing to stir up the crowd, to be an agitator, a demonstrator for justice.  He’s willing to be God-
directed.  He’s got God’s bridle to point him in the right direction.  One of the clearest descriptions of
meekness in the Bible is the statement Peter and the other apostles made after they were arrested for
preaching the gospel:  “It’s our duty to obey God rather than men.”  (Acts 5:29, Cotton Patch Version)

This was the spirit of Rosa Parks, the African American seamstress who was active in her church in
Montgomery, Alabama.  It was 1955, a time of severe segregation, when blacks were told to sit in the back of
the bus.  On this day the black section was already filled, so Ms. Parks sat down in the white section.  When
the bus driver asked her to get up, she refused.  The driver said, “If you don’t stand up, I’ll have you arrested.”  
Rosa Parks told him, “Go on and have me arrested.  I’m too tired to stand.”

She spent the night in jail; but her act of meekness led the pastors of Montgomery to meet that night and
organize the Montgomery Improvement Association, and they named 26-year old Martin Luther King, Jr as
president of the organization.  This group then began a year-long boycott of segregated buses in Montgomery.  
The Civil Rights Movement was born in America in 1955, sparked by the meek action of a tired but determined
lady, aligned with God, who said “No” to a bus driver.  That’s the power of meekness.

We can find examples of meekness in our own community.  In the early l960’s when the civil rights struggles
were underway, someone painted on the front doors of this church an epithet stating that this church loved
African Americans.  The minister, Warren Carr, asked that the front door be painted again.  Then the same
epithet was painted again on the front door.  The minister said, “Leave it there.”  It was a witness to this
congregation’s inclusive spirit.  It was the power of meekness— allowing the moral bridle, the God Movement
bridle, to give direction, even in the middle of racial hatred and fear.  We obey God, rather than men.

We could name other actions that are clear expressions of meekness.  What about the act of conscience that
led Watts Street members to launch the Durham chapter of Habitat for Humanity and One World Market and
Walltown Neighborhood Ministries and our Peace and Reconciliation mission and our Environmental mission
and other vital missions.  Why do we undertake these missions?  We might say, “This needs to be done.   
Somebody needs to do it.”  But when we are pushed back to our deepest motivation, we might surely say, “I’m
doing this…We’re doing this out of our faith—our God-connection and God- direction.  Why do any of us
volunteer to tutor youngsters, to prepare a meal at the homeless shelter?  Why do we spend time listening to a
friend who is going through a difficult time?

Meekness is the quality that emerges from our connection with God; and that meekness then connects us to
others—through our willingness to stay involved, to keep connected.   Meek does not at all mean being a
doormat; meek means being God-directed, risk-taking, standing up for God’s Kingdom, insisting that we are
partners with God in bringing about the Beloved Community.  People who are meek make choices based on
our alignment with God.

Clarence Jordan says, “The meek folks are the folks who turn the world upside down.”  The meek understand
the bold truth of the Lord’s Prayer:  “Thy Kingdom come….on earth.”  Here. Now.  We are partners with God in
helping the Kingdom to come—here and now.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek.”  It’s present tense.  Now, not in the future.  It is the meek who are
blessed—now.

It is the meek who inherit the earth.  We usually understand inheritance as the distribution of property or money
after someone has died.  But in the biblical understanding, inheritance means receiving all that God has
promised. (from Jim Forest, p. 59, The Ladder of the Beatitudes)

It’s the Promised Land where everyone is secure, living in peace.  It’s the Promised Time of love, forgiveness
and spiritual abundance.  This is what the meet inherit.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth—the Kingdom come on earth.

So may it be.  Amen.  http://www.wattsstreet.org/n/blessed_are_the_meek.html
"May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You,
Oh Lord, My Rock and Redeemer."
Psalms 19:14




Dearest Lord of my being,
Thank you for blessing me with all that I need
to be the best that I can be.
I am so grateful for your love, light, and peace.
May I always be aware of your presence
and may I love and honor you above all things.
I need you in my heart, in my soul,
and in my life now and forever.
Amen
astrologizing.net
Sabbath Devotionals
The Sabbath; Sat. March 20, 2010
BIBLE READING NEW TESTAMENT
Matthew 5: 5

Blessed are the meek,
  for they will inherit the earth.
BIBLE READING OLD TESTAMENT
Isaiah 29: 19

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the
Holy One of Israel.

ESV
HOMILY
Blessed Are the Meek        

I have a very Martian temperament.  I love to debate and I don't mind debating politics or religion.  Debating
can be a wonderful learning tool, but is not accepted in modern social scenes. It makes some people nervous.

As I've aged, I've "meeked out" a bit.  I have become less reactive and more gentle in my sociability.  I leave
politics and religion alone particularly since I live in a totally conservative, Republican county.  I am a total
minority here.  I guess that's why I live here; to gentle and tame this maverick mind of mine.  

My grandson, Joey, belongs to the debate team in college.  They call it, "forensics" now.  Lordy, I thought that
was some kind of medical examination of the dead.  I guess I've watched too many "Bones" episodes.  
Anyway, I would absolutely love to have had the opportunity to be on a debate team like that when I was in
college.  One has to be truly balanced and focused to debate a point without becoming totally arrogant when
winning or broken when losing.

What about this word, "meek"?  It surely doesn't mean wimp or scared.  Its meaning is closer to kind, gentle,
tamed, disciplined, and not having to get the last word in.  The modern saying most close to meek is, " I'd
rather be happy than right!"   The furtherest and most annoying is, "whatever!"

Jesus was telling us how to be, not what to believe.  I'd rather be inclusively gentle than exclusively dogmatic.
He was meek and humble of heart and that's what I want to be.