Blessed are the Meek

Matthew 5:5

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Matthew chapter 5 verse 5. Jesus continues the beatitudes and he says

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

Again, Jesus gives us a value that is valued in the Christian life that isn’t valued in our culture: meekness? It rhymes with and it’s often associated with weakness. It feels like having people walk all over you, is being meek. Not being able to stand up for yourself. Maybe you think of the person who would never send back their food if the restaurant got it wrong. You wouldn’t want to cause any trouble.

We think about it like like weakness, but it’s not. Meekness is a value that Christ gives us, that Christ shows to us. Blessed are the meek. The ones who don’t look and say give me the respect that I’m owed. The ones who don’t get upset when someone’s not valuing them the right way because they find their value in Christ: the one who came and was meek.

Look at the one who forgives us for our pride, the one who came, and you’ll see him in the manger. You’ll see this baby wrapped in swaddling clothes born, to a peasant family. He’s meek, he’s weak, but it’s not dangerous. In fact he’s the one we can come to with all of our sins and he doesn’t yell at us. He forgives us. He is filled with compassion for us and he promises that we’ll inherit the earth.

That’s another kind of confusing phrase, but it means that right now God’s going to bless us on this earth. But there’s an eternal aspect to this, too. That we’ll inherit the new heavens and the new earth. When Christ comes, Christ who looks so meek and mild while he was on the earth is going to come back in glory and present us with a new heaven and a new earth, a home of righteousness forever.