Meekness

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

Does anyone else find the list of traits Jesus chooses for the beatitudes mystifying? If we, here in the Bay Area, were to choose ten or fewer traits that we felt would most describe people who are happy, would we choose any of the ones Jesus does?

Meekness is not something most of us talk or think much about. David Brooks points out that one of the assumptions in our culture is “the centrality of accomplishment”: we are not measured by conforming to a code, or the “thickness” of our relationships, but by what we have individually achieved. It’s okay to be self-oriented, to promote the self. “The meritocracy,” he writes, “is the most self-confidant moral system in the world today… it subliminally sends the message that those who are smarter and more accomplished are actually worth more than those who are not.” Coupled with this is a sense of entitlement, and all of it is insidious. On some level, it’s very hard not to believe that I am worth more, that I deserve more, because I achieved more. 

But that is not the moral economy of the kingdom of Christ. Those who will inherit the earth, who will gain it all, are the meek. Lloyd-Jones writes, “Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others… when I have that true view of myself in terms of poverty of spirit, and mourning because of my sinfulness, I am led on to see that there must be an absence of pride. The meek man is not proud of himself, he does not in any sense glory in himself… he does not assert himself… does not demand anything for himself… The man who is truly meek is the one who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do.” In demeanor and behavior, a meek man is mild, lowly, of a quiet spirit, patient and long-suffering, without a spirit of retaliation, ready to listen and learn with a teachable spirit.

Meekness is Abraham letting Lot have the first pick of the land, Moses not defending himself before Aaron and Miriam, David not retaliating against Saul’s unjust treatment, Jeremiah allowing unkind things to be said behind his back, Stephen being stoned, Paul’s willingness to suffer and bear disparaging remarks, and Jesus himself, the “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11), who did not regard his equality with God a thing to be grasped (Philippians 2).

This isn’t something we can generate on our own. I think Lloyd-Jones is right in saying it is listed third for a reason: we first have to learn what it means to be poor in spirit, that we have nothing before a holy God, and to mourn, to truly grieve sin—and that can only be a work of the Holy Spirit in us, I think, to open our eyes in those ways. To be meek is then to turn that outwards, before others, to be willing to let them turn the spotlight on us, without the need to defend or assert ourselves.

Meekness is not self-abasement because these things are done in the presence of God, and in his presence we see our high worth. Look at the promises here: while they are promises for the future, they are instantaneous as well. To be spiritually impoverished is to be open to the gospel and the kingdom. To mourn is to repent and be comforted at once with the joy of forgiveness and deliverance. To be meek is to be as Paul, “having nothing, yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6). Meekness is not weakness, but is compatible with great strength, authority, and power. It is so radically counter-cultural that it is worth our attention. What does it mean for me to be meek? Who do I know in my life who is meek? How do I grow in meekness in my life?