Blessed Are the Meek

By: Pastor Dennis Yim

Key Passage- Matthew 5:5

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

There’s something unique about Jesus. Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus as a meek person.

He wasn’t considered to be weak nor was he indecisive or timid nor was he a push-over. Jesus

was nothing close to being any of those things. However, he was extremely meek. This verse is

quite mysterious. How can we be meek if we have a difficult time understanding the meaning of

meekness? I know some have argued that being meek is being nice; unfortunately, niceness and

meekness are completely two different things; there are people who are just naturally nice and

easy-going, but meekness goes much deeper. The Greek word for meek is praeia (πραεῖα) which

means to not be overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance, gentle, humble,

considerate. D.A Carson explains it this way: Meekness is a controlled desire to see the other’s

interests advance ahead of one’s own. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones put it this way: The man who is

truly meek is the one who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and

treat him as well as they do…Finally, I would put it like this. We are to leave everything –

ourselves, our rights, our cause, our whole future – in the hands of God, and especially so if we

feel we are suffering unjustly.

Meekness is being shalomic. Meekness means that we are to be so Christ-centered that we do not

consider ourselves to be of importance and we place the Kingdom of God before and above all.

But to place the Kingdom of God as the first and uttermost importance of our lives, we must

place others before us. We must surrender our needs, desires, rights, causes and our future for

our neighbors. But we must first rest in the assurance of our risen King that we are already

justified so that we no longer need to concern ourselves with “trying to justify ourselves”

because it’s be accomplished and finished on the cross and through our union with Jesus (we

possess all everything that we need in Him). Meekness is concerned about edifying our

neighbors and seeking to bring the realities of the Kingdom of God in all spheres of life, which

leads to human flourishing. Meekness helps us to see ourselves for who we truly are: poor in

spirit and humble (not thinking more highly of oneself than he/she ought to). This is how

meekness helps us to relate with others. No one likes a know-it-all or moralistic-elitist (extreme

pietistic) Christian; everyone (including believers) are turned away from them! There’s a reason

why Jesus opposed the Pharisees and the other religious leaders who were the opposite of being

meek; it’s not attractive, uplifting, shalomic and God glorifying.

Christ has given us new life which is marked with His meekness. However, meekness is

developed as we spend time with Him in prayer and by using his grace to practice meekness.

Yes, practice. Our habits inform the pedagogy of our hearts. Meekness is not natural to us, but

it’s something that God helps us to grow in as we faithfully walk in it (practice). Meekness is one

of the marks of the Kingdom; as we grow in meekness we will bless our neighbors in ways that

will point them to our meek King, Jesus Christ.