Jesus said blessed are the meek

Matthew 5

3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

There is much made in some Christian circles about people being strong in faith. A premium is placed on metaphors that convey power, even an endorsement of a sort of masculine potency that springs from the idea that we were made in His image. Such people are valued and held up as examples to be exalted and followed as believers who stand apart from others.

This flies in the face of these words from Jesus, and if anything tempts pride. It is all to easy to forget in the comfort of our faith the fortune we have in our lives.

Consider Christians who do feel secure in their faith and live lives apparently blessed by an abundance of support and financial security. Missed sometimes is the reality that none of these people is an island. For every person who appears righteous and a (wo)man apart in the Lord, is a multitude of people and the Lord who have built into that success. These people stand on a selection or all of a supportive congregation, family life, fortuitous upbringing, other favourable circumstances, and most of all God’s grace. Small success it is then that these people have such a leg up to the heights of forgiveness. Easy for their successes to be broadcast from such a height, at an advantage of position.

All the while there are the meek; poor in spirit and mourning. These people strain for grace through the tribulations of their lives without the same measure of support. They might be the people at the back of the church or at the backs of our lives who toil in humility. Their successes are not trumpeted at all because they do not acknowledge them or their sense of humility tells them they are not worthy. Even if they are noticed perhaps from their position they are lost in the noise of those trumpeting their success closer to or on the pulpit. They are sometimes even looked down upon by those who have something to stand on when these people have nothing but their faith, which may even seem poor in comparison.

I say, as one who stands on much provided by others to support his faith, that these silent others, reaching for forgiveness without that same support, are taller in stature because of it. Jesus’ words affirm that sentiment. These are the ‘last’ who shall be first, and I acknowledge I am lucky to be in line at all.

We do well to remember that when someone appears weak to us. We do not know how Jesus values their faith for the trials they work through that we do not understand.