Meekness, Part 2

I would like to direct your attention to the first five of The Beatitudes pronounced by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. A beatitude is a declaration of blessedness. One of these beatitudes deals with meekness, our subject in this series. Today I want to consider what meekness has in common with the other characteristics of those who are pronounced blessed by our Lord.

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

To be blessed is to be happy. The Greek word that is here rendered blessed is rendered happy in other places in the New Testament. With this in mind, we can say that our Lord is giving us in The Beatitudes the formula for happiness.

The first beatitude speaks of the poor in spirit. They are such as feel their need of God’s salvation and mercy. The following passage is an expression of one who is poor is spirit.

Psalms 86:1 Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.

The poor in spirit are contrite, broken by a sense of their sin, and they tremble at God’s word.

Isaiah 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

The poor in spirit are not self-sufficient. Because of their sin, they know they are deficient before God and His word. They know they need resources outside of themselves and they seek these from God. They do not have the attitude expressed by the church at Laodicea, an attitude the Lord found nauseating.

Revelation 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing….

The second beatitude concerns those that mourn. They that mourn are such are feel sorrow, grief, and regret for their sins. Hear the lament of David as he struggled under the burden and guilt of his sin:

Psalms 38: 4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

A man in this condition is certainly not satisfied with himself. So then they that mourn are not self-satisfied.

This brings us to the third beatitude regarding the meek. In our last meditation, we saw that the meek are characterized by humility, gentleness, and submissiveness. They do not have a high opinion of themselves nor is their chief aim to exalt themselves. The meek are not self-willed.

The fourth beatitude respects those that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Such souls do not see themselves as full of righteousness. They rather hunger and thirst after it. They are certainly not like that Pharisee, who stood praying with himself in the temple and saying:

Luke 18:11 …God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

In contrast, they are like the apostle Paul who expressed this longing:

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him (the Lord Jesus Christ), not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Paul hungered and thirsted for a righteousness that he did not have in and of himself. So then they that hunger and thirst after righteousness are not self-righteous.

Then the last beatitude we are considering treats of the merciful. They are those who show mercy to others. They show kindness and compassion to those who have no claim to receive kindness or who deserve severity. They are like the good Samaritan in the story told by our Lord (Luke 10:30-37). They will inconvenience themselves to help a neighbour in trouble. They are unlike the priest and the Levite, who passed by on the other side because they wouldn’t be bothered. Merciful people consider the needs of others rather than just the needs of themselves. So we can say of the merciful that they are not self-centered.

Now let’s make an overall observation about these five beatitudes that we have considered. Our Lord pronounces blessed those who are not self-sufficient, who are not self-satisfied, who are not self-willed, who are not self-righteous, and who are not self-centered. All these beatitudes deal with some form of self-abasement. So we may conclude that the pathway to blessedness is the pathway of self-abasement. The self must be dethroned if we would find true happiness. How contrary all this is to the philosophy of the world which would have us seek our happiness in self-fulfillment rather than self-denial! That this is so is because men by nature are proud and self-serving, rather than meek and lowly. Insist that men deny themselves and you will make enemies. With this in mind I conclude with the following excellent quote from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen:

The day Our Lord taught the Beatitudes He signed His own death warrant. The sound of nails and hammers digging through human flesh were the echoes thrown back from the mountainside where He told men how to be happy or blessed. Everybody wants to be happy; but His ways were the very opposite of the ways of the world.

Well said, Bishop Sheen! God willing, we shall have more to say about meekness in coming meditations.