Hello my friends!

I hope you had a wonderful week. I hope you know that whenever I sit down to write one of these newsletters, I am thankful we have this weekly rhythm together and connect this way when we can. Our conversations over these topics throughout the week are such an encouragement to me. I hope they continue to be for you as well.

I am finishing up reading through the beatitudes next week, with "blessed are the peacemakers." This week though, I wanted to think with you about what Jesus must have meant by using the word "meekness" and not only calling it "blessed" but saying that those who exhibit it will "inherit the earth." I also want to think together on why this may be the most unpopular of the beatitudes within our culture, maybe even especially for us American Christians.

But before we dive into that, here are some things have have me thinking this week.

Resources to Consider:

-This week, I started "Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife," by Ehrman, Bart D. I can't put it down. As a pastor, heaven, hell, and the afterlife are among the top subjects I will have people ask me about. Frankly, I'm always hesitant to share explicitly what I have learned and have come to believe about them through my education because it is so different from the way a lot of Christians tend to believe. Ehrman frames the history and evolution of how Christians came to see heaven, hell, and the afterlife in the way many of us do today and how it differs from how both Jesus and Paul would have seen the afterlife. I highly recommend reading this work when you have the time. Very thought provoking.

-As you may or may not have heard, misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines are again a huge topic of conversation due to Joe Rogan platforming anti-vaccine rhetoric on his hugely popular podcast on Spotify, listened to by millions. This is a really complicated and difficult conversation to have with others, at least I have found that to be the case. In a desire to help with these conversations, I wanted to direct you towards an episode from the now concluded show called "The Experiment." The episode is called "The Original Anti-Vaxxer." What I love about this episode is that it does well to show the complicated history of vaccination in our country and they do this by showing the person at the center of the first ever supreme court case on compulsory vaccinations: Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905) Jacobson just so happed to be a pastor. So obviously I was drawn to this episode. They also call the current pastor of Jacobson's church and talk to him all throughout the episode. It brought a lot of context and nuance for me on this topic. I hope it does for you too.

-Lastly, I was recently interviewed by my new friend, Kristin Mockler Young on her great podcast "Becoming Church." In our vulnerable conversation together, we talk about what repentance look might look like within the church and especially from pastors in an age of so much scandal, abuse, and legalism within American Christianity. You can listen to our conversation here.

Okay, now onto today's content.

​
​Does "meek" mean "weak?"

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." -Jesus (Matt 5:5)

We have a culture where rugged individualism is praised as a virtue.

Even our common cultural phrases in America reveal this:

“It’s survival of the fittest!”

Who gets to define survival and fitness?

Are cockroaches and Styrofoam the fittest among us because they seem to “survive” anything?

“Only the strongest survive.”

Again, who gets to define strong? An atomic bomb is strong all on its own in destructive power, but ants are strongest together in constructive power. Two different kinds of strength. Do they both bring about the same kind of “survival?”

“Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.”

This is one of my least favorite phrases. It’s a phrase that originated from old military folktales to describe something that is impossible. One cannot in fact pull themselves by their bootstraps to say jump over a fence better or pull themselves up big rocks.

Yet, in our time it is used as phrase to mean “advance in life without any outside help.”

MLK had the best response to this phrase when he said, “it is a cruel jest to tell a bootless man to pull himself up by his bootstraps.”

“You’re a self made man!”

Another of my least favorites. It makes no logical sense to me. Yes, you’re “self made,” because only you made your birth possible, you taught yourself everything from kindergarten through high school, you made your own clothes by hand, built your own car, built your own cell phone, you grew your own food and slept on a bed you made yourself in a house you built yourself. You alone made your education and career happen. There were no teachers, parents, employees, businesses, mentors, or friends along the way that ever helped you. No, you are a “self made man!” I get what it’s meant to imply, but it so often communicates the false claim that someone achieved great success without any outside help. It is especially unsettling when wealthy white men claim this title for themselves.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

This phrase of Jesus doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of these other phrases.

Yet, it isn’t because the word meek means “weakness,” because it doesn’t.

It is because of something else. Something that is so central to all the other phrases I mentioned above. Before I tell you what I think it is, let’s look at the Greek word for meek.

The Greek word we translate here as “meek” is πραΰς, (parus). It means mild and gentle.

This word is used only three other times in the Bible, all in the New Testament and Mathew uses all of them but one. First in the beatitude we are looking at today (Matt 5:5). So, let’s look at the rest of them quickly and see if we can’t catch a common theme presented in all of them:

Matthew 11:29

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle (parus) and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Matthew 21:5

“Say to Daughter Zion, ’See, your king comes to you, gentle (parus) and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

1 Peter 3:4

“Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle (parus) and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Notice a theme in all these verses? From a king, to the common person, to Jesus himself, there is this admiration of mildness, of gentleness, of meekness. It is not the showy display of unrestrained power or wealth, but rather using any kind of strength one might have mildly, gently, meekly.

This is why I think it conflicts with the rugged individualism of our culture. Rugged individualism thrives on unrestrained power. The individual doing whatever it takes to advance on their own, even if it means exerting unrestrained power over others. It sees mildness and gentleness as weaknesses rather than relying upon them to guide their power.

This makes me think of elephants. They are among some of the strongest animals on earth, but they have the most gentle and mild dexterity, especially in their trunks. According to National Geographic, an elephant’s trunk contains about 40,000 muscles. They have been shown picking up incredibly fragile things like tortilla chips or flowers without breaking or even bruising them.

They are known as “gentle giants” for this reason.

This is an excellent way of thinking about meekness. It isn’t a lack of strength. It is a disciplined strength. It is strength under great control.

In Matthew 5:5, it is referring to one’s strength and power being freely put under the control of God, which makes it mild and gentle.

I think this is why this beatitude may not be so popular in our culture, even among Christians.

For a people like Americans who value independence and self reliance, “restraint” sounds like a cuss word.

We are Americans, no one can tell us what to do! We are free to be as unrestrained in our use of power and wealth as we want!

It says “In God We Trust” on our money, but that’s only as long as God doesn’t try to tell us what to do. Especially with our money.

I’m being hyperbolic here, but you get the picture, right? We bristle when we are told there are restrains and boundaries on how we can use our strength, our power. This dynamic alone was one of the major causes of conflict during the covid pandemic, right? Self control is for others, but not really for ourselves.

This isn’t just true for Americans. In fact, we seem to elevate those who are reckless and caviler about their use of strength and power throughout the world and throughout history.

Just look at the 20th century alone and the kind of world leaders that were given the reigns of their countries, even by democratic elections, like Hitler in Germany. That century also saw Atatürk, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Francisco Franco, Mao Tse-tung, Juan Perón, Tito, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sukarno, Kwame Nkrumah, and Pol Pot.

These figures all defined unrestrained power as the way they would “inherit the earth.”

We can see similar definitions of “ruling” from many of those who want to be the next president of the United States in 2024.

Even the Greco-Roman culture of Jesus’ day felt this way.

It’s the powerful, the forceful, those who win by any means necessary that will “inherit the earth.”

It’s a dog eat dog world after all and it’s only those who are willing to do what it takes to get ahead, by any means necessary, who will succeed. Only people like that will rule and inherit the earth.

It is into the middle of that belief that Jesus steps in and confronts it by saying, “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

It is the gentle. It is the mild. It is those who use their power in a disciplined, controlled way, not a harsh and severe way, who will actually inherit the earth.

It is such a powerful contrast to how often our world justifies the use of unrestrained power, even within Christianity.

I so often think how Jesus laying down his own life out of the love for the world rather than using all his cosmic power to force the world into submission is the eternal critique of any Christian movement that wants to force people into submission by their use of political power.

Unrestrained power is the exact opposite way from how Jesus defines power.

After Peter cut off the ear of one of the people who were coming to arrest Jesus after he was betrayed, and after Jesus said his famous line about “those who live by the sword, die by the sword,” he says another startling line: “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt 26:53)

I think about Jesus having that kind of power and looking at how he chose to live instead all the time.

This “commander of angel armies,” had his power under the authority of God and what did that power look like?

Instead of conquering his enemies, he healed them, loved them, and forgave them. Instead of condemning poor and hungry people, he brought good news to them and fed them. Instead of shaming people for being “unclean” he met them right where they were and even washed their dirty feet himself. Instead of storming the capital city with an armed militia, while seated on a war horse, in order to claim power over the empire, he led a procession of gentleness (Matt 21:5), followed by women, children, fisherman, and tax collectors, while riding a donkey, in order to give his life out of love for the world.

His definition of power looked like a washbasin, a shepherd’s staff, a cross and an empty tomb. Not a sword, a flag, a gavel, or an emperor’s throne.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Once we grasp this concept of meekness, it is easy to spot it all throughout scripture.

We see it in kings forgiving debts rather than enforcing them. We see fathers receiving sons who had run away rather than casting them out. We see God desiring not to inflict the world by flood waters ever again, but joining in covenant with humanity instead. We see God forgiving the Ninevites rather than destroying them. We see Jesus rebuking his disciples when they wanted to call fire down from heaven onto a Samaritan village who refused to accept Jesus (Luke 9:54).

It is the mild, gentle, and restrained who will inherit the earth.

To understand that last line, "inherit the earth" a bit better, we have to again think of Christ’s context.

“Earth” was most likely referring to the land promised to Israel by God.

Matthew’s audience were those who had been severely oppressed by Rome, who was practicing unrestrained power over them and the known world at the time. Yet here, Jesus is essentially pointing out that while it may seem like the Romans are victorious, this is not the kind of behavior God blesses or condones.

Rather, it is the restrained and the gentle.

It is interesting that the same Roman Empire who controlled the world with an iron eventually declined, not by another conquering hoard, but by a slow, gentle, epoch shift in the Mediterranean context that dismantled its power.

So what does this mean for us today?

I think this means we take a closer look at what we define as truly effective and even “blessed” when it comes to how strength is used.

Do we admire the severe or the gentle?

Do we allow ourselves to be led by the forceful and the arrogant or the mild and humble?

Do we see gentleness and mildness as weakness or the source of true strength?

Do we refuse to restrain power within ourselves because we have long been told that unrestrained power is the more admirable?

Who do we really think will inherit our culture, our nation, and even the world when all is said and done? For that is the kind of person we will inevitably strive to be.

Now I’d like to hear your thoughts. How do you approach this beatitude? How have you defined meekness? Did reading this change how your approach this concept in any way? Do you have different thoughts from what I expressed here? I’d love to hear them. Respond to this email and let me know.

If you find this project helpful and would like to support it further, you can do so here. I deeply appreciate all of you who have done so already. It really helps me to keep this project alive.

I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks, as always, for reading.

Sincerely,

Ben​

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