Oak Chapel United Methodist Church

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Remember, if you will, what I suggested when we began this series of Lenten sermons about the Beatitudes: that they are not prescriptions for living, not recipes for a happy life. Jesus doesn't urge us to adopt them. We're not expected to draw conclusions like, "Gee! I sure would like to inherit the kingdom, so I think I'll go out and get poor." Or, "I'd sure like to be comforted, so I better go mourn." No, the Beatitudes are descriptions of the Kingdom of God. And, it is clear from the get-go that the values of the Kingdom are different, dramatically different, from the values of this world. It is also clear that following Kingdom values doesn't, necessarily, make us happy. The opposite of saying that one is "blessed," is not to say that one is unhappy but, rather, that one is "cursed." A non-believer may appear to be happy, he may (in fact) be happy - who cares? He is not aligned with those values that are eternal, and, therefore, he is a loser. And we offer that, not as something we can prove or disprove, but as something we accept if we believe Jesus is the Son of God and should know. But, even if The Beatitudes are not "go and do" sayings, it is still true that, knowing the values of the Kingdom, we can check ourselves against them. After all, Christians do live in the expectation of God's reign. And each beatitude expresses some aspect of the coming Kingdom. So, now, let's look at this one: Blessed are the meek.

Unfortunately, the English word, "meek," carries some connotations, some overtones, which can lead us astray as we try to understand this beatitude. The English word, but not the Greek word from the Bible, can suggest "peaceful," "complacent," even "soft." But those meanings are not in Matthew's word. His word means, if you can imagine this, a combination of "humble-minded" and "gentle." So Jesus is saying that humility and gentleness are benchmarks of the Kingdom of God.

Encounters with God make us humble. When we meet Him - it doesn't matter how, or when or where - when we meet God, we understand, immediately and without need of explanation, how small we are and how humble we need to be. Job, after disputing mightily with God (and who could blame him?), actually meets God. And says, "…I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know….I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes" Encounters with God make us humble.

When the angel comes to Nazareth, to tell Mary (who is probably fourteen or fifteen years old) that she will be the mother of God, the first thing Mary thinks is how unworthy she is (which is what seems to amaze her the most): "…He hath regarded the lowly estate of his handmaiden," she says. "You don't get much lower, or much poorer, than I." "There are so many woman better prepared for this, Lord: wealthier, more knowledgeable about babies, educated." But then Mary begins to recall all those times in history when God passed by the obvious candidates and used someone, humble, and of low estate to do his will: "…he has scattered the proud in their hearts, He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly, He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich empty away." "And now he's doing it again in me."

When Peter meets Jesus for the first time, he is stunned and amazed by him, and humbled. He says, "You better get out of here, mister. I have a garbage mouth and so do all my friends." That's how our greatest saint began his pilgrimage. Same place Mary began hers. In honesty and deep humility about who he or she was. Peter slipped a few times after that, to be sure. By the time he was "Saint Peter" he had seen himself rebuked by Jesus, had disgracefully denied Jesus three times when the chips were down (even after Jesus had predicted that he would and he had shouted, "never!"). And, before he was Saint Peter, he would be humbled (and forgiven) by Jesus on the beach. Three times…what else? Peter, do you love me? You know I love you. Feed my sheep." And then Peter was done, fully cooked, ready to serve and be served.

When Princess Diana died, so tragically, I had never really thought much about her as a person - good or bad. To me she was a beautiful woman, an image, almost a cardboard cut-out. But the day after she died I happened to speak with a man from India, who was obviously grieved by her death, and he said of Diana, almost in reverence, "She touched the lepers." See, people from India understand royalty better than we. He knew she didn't have to touch. She could have just visited the colony, observed the lepers from a distance, cut a ribbon, waved and been gone. But she was willing to humble herself. And that, for him, was Princess Di - and that's what she would always be to him. A royal who touched lepers. Humility is part of meekness is part of the Kingdom of God.

The word "Savior" is a cry for help. It clearly implies that we need to be saved, rescued, delivered from something, and that we are unable to accomplish that ourselves. The Gospel is the story of our deliverance. So, the very nature of God's Kingdom has to be humility. We all began in the same place ("Once we were slaves…."), and none of us would ever have left that place were it not for the grace of God. That's why holier-than-thou religion is a terrible thing. It so badly misses the point of our faith.

And along with humility, gentleness. There was a day when people spent time seriously discussing what it meant to be a "gentleman" or a "gentlewoman." And the words were not applied to everyone. Is the Kingdom of God marked by gentleness? (Is our earthly version of that Kingdom, the Church, marked that way?) Are its citizens careful about how they speak to each other? Do they avoid crudeness? Do they respect each other? Are they sensitive to each other's needs, especially to the needs of the less fortunate? Do they speak kindly to others? Do they watch their manners and their dress? One old-time preacher defined gentleness simply as "love in society" (that is, love in our social relations). He said gentleness is "love in all its depths and all its delicacy."

Robert E. Lee was riding to Richmond, during the war, on a train crowded with exhausted soldiers and officers. When he boarded the car, it was so full he had been forced to walk to the very end where he took the last available seat. The train made a stop, at a little country town, and a crippled-up old lady got on and made her way to Lee's car. As she walked down the aisle, no one offered her a seat, but when she approached the end of the car, Lee stood and gave her his. At that, the other soldiers realizing that Lee was now standing, jumped up and said, "Here, General, take my seat." And he said, "No, gentlemen. If there was no seat for the infirm old woman, there can be none for me." Those who witnessed that incident said that, then, a most amazing thing began to happen. All the other soldiers, one by one, got up and left the car - as if the seats were too hot to sit on - until the General and the old lady had the car to themselves. And for many years after, in defeat and in disgrace, Robert E. Lee set an example of what it meant to be a gentleman.

"Blessed are the meek (the humble, the gentile), for they shall inherit the earth."