What with a computer crash and end of school year demands, my blog has suffered. If anyone decides to continue following, thanks for your patience. I had started a series based on the beattitudes. I'll pick up where we left off:
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Jesus continues with his habit of turning traditional wisdom on its head.
To recap, Jesus is taking us on a journey of what salvation looks like. Step one, we are all of us spiritually destitutute, beggars, poor in spirit. We cannot save ourselves, and are blessed when we accept this truth. Step two, when the reality of our true condition confronts us, like a drunk finally embracing his problem, we mourn the wasted years of living in denial. We grieve as we let go of our fantasy, the idolized self that says we are the master of our destiny or the captain of our souls. We are blessed when we face the truth, allowing it to begin the process of change.
Step three is a total sell-out to God the Father through Jesus Christ, inviting him to come and bring his riches, his righteousness and strength to fix the mess we have made of our lives. It is an acknowledgement of our limitations, and an active humility to follow his lead.
It is the most unappreciated of the beattitudes, based on the self-help or church growth books that are popular in Christian circles today. They seem to borrow extensively from the business world or pop-psychology. The thought seems to be that you can have what you want, you can be a success if you just work hard. Jesus doesn't seem to be saying that. If our world is fallen and we are broken, how is any amount of effort on our part going to change that? We need a saviour. Then the power of the kingdom invades our world through our obedience and reliance upon Jesus. We are blessed not when we get our own way, but when we yeild to Jesus' wisdom and power instead of trying to be our own god.
The best illustration I've ever seen of meekness I heard from a Lakota Sioux. All young males will take a spiritual journey, entering the wilderness to fast and pray four days. The one question they pray is "Oh Great Mystery, how best can my life be offered to all living things?" That is meekness. We do not see all ends. What we think of as the waste or loss of our lives could actually make the biggest difference in the world. Look at the cross.
