|
|
The Meekness of Jesus |
|
|
The atheist Frederick Nietzsche, who coined the phrase "God is dead," once said, "Assert yourself. Care for nothing except yourself. The only vice is weakness and the only virtue is strength. Be strong. Be a superman. The world is yours if you work hard enough for it!" Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). Two very different ideas. Although the first words are from an atheist, and the last quote from the teaching of Jesus, too many times seems that Christians go by Nietzsche’s philosophy rather than Jesus’ teaching. Many Christians live as though the only virtue is strength. Jesus never talked about strength, but he often spoke of meekness. I looked up the definition of meekness in the dictionary, and one of the definitions was: "deficient in spirit and courage." That is not Jesus’ idea of meekness. It is not about being weak, it is about not reacting with aggressiveness and malice. The other definition I found comes closer. It was, "enduring injury with patience and without resentment." When I looked up the definition in a Greek-English lexicon it defined meekness as: "gentleness of attitude and behavior, in contrast with harshness in one’s dealings with others." It is very difficult to follow the teachings of Jesus, but this is also what makes him so attractive to me. What a challenge to work toward being transformed into the image of Christ. It takes humility and surrender to the will and heart of God on a moment by moment basis. We value strength and dignity, Jesus values meekness and humility. It is unfortunate that we sometimes see meekness as weakness and consider it a disposable quality, but we seldom see power as disposable. The Bible says, "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Colossians 3:12). This is to be a character quality of Christians because we follow the model of Christ. Jesus said, "I am gentle and humble in heart." What does this look like in the life of Jesus, and what does it look like in our lives? The first point is: Meekness means we do not retaliate. In other words, we do not strike back. Jesus did not just teach this, he modeled it. The Bible says, "But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23). So, what does this look like in real life? We will all find this an enormous challenge if we take the words of Jesus seriously. It means that when we are hurt by someone we do not try to hurt back. We do not hold a grudge. We seek reconciliation. We do not give insult for insult. The Living Bible translates 1 Corinthians 13:5 this way: "Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong." When we read that, we want to say with the disciples, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" But meekness means we do not retaliate. The second point is: Meekness means living without fear. We talked a few weeks ago about the confidence of Jesus. I love the picture of strength in meekness that John paints of Jesus. At the most dangerous hour of Jesus’ life, he calmly takes the role of a servant. And he does this, as John says, knowing that "the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God." Jesus knows the power he has. He has the power to walk away from this. He has the power to destroy his enemies. He has the power to blow up the universe. But he ignores what he could do to those who came to destroy him, and chooses to concentrate on serving those he loved. He does this, even though it would look as though his enemies had won. Meekness includes submissiveness to the will and heart of God. What this translates into is trust that frees us from fear. Jesus was able to do this, for the Bible says, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). He was able to surrender to the will of God because he trusted in God. He believed that God would work it out and bring good from it. When you trust God you lose much of the fear that many people live with. You don’t have to struggle at being in control when you trust that he is in control. The values of the kingdom are right-side-up from the upside-down values of the world. The apostle Paul had been struggling with a weakness in his life, and he had prayed for God to take it away. He reports, "But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). There is only one way that Paul could make a statement like that, he had to have a complete trust in God. He realized his weakness caused him to be totally dependent on God. When he was strong, he could go in his own strength, but in weakness he had to live in dependence on God and trust him. Meekness means living without fear, because you depend on God. The third point is: Meekness comes with a blessing. Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). It is not the strong and powerful or wealthy and famous who inherit the earth, it is the meek. The world knows comparatively little about the life of Herod the Great or Pilate, but it knows a great deal about the life of Jesus, and millions throughout the ages have ordered their lives by his teaching and given him their devotion. The Romans crucified Jesus, but not long after that Christianity became the state religion of Rome. Without firing a shot Jesus conquers the kingdoms of the world. The Bible says, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9). This lesson from the life of Jesus says that the meek win and the arrogant and powerful lose. This is heavenly wisdom, not worldly. Meekness is the quiet confidence that God is in control, and there are great rewards in that confidence. We are rewarded with peace. |
||
