Blessed Are the Meek
Copyright
© 2003 Jordan White
There
was an excellent cartoon in the
Titled “Rumor of the Week by Edward
Sorel”, it is captioned: “The Reverend Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, is
said to have assured President Bush that the prophesy [sic] “The meek shall inherit the earth” is simply a
mistranslation.”
Bush then replies, as he relaxes at
his Oval Office desk, “Well, y’know I figured it hadda be somethin’ like that,
‘cause it just never made any sense.”
This
is great stuff, because
One clarification: The so-called
“Sermon on the Mount” (found in Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7), from which the
phrase, “The meek shall inherit the earth” is taken, certainly contains elements
of prophecy but is not primarily prophetic in nature. That is, while
Jesus certainly was taking the future times into consideration (He did say, “shall inherit”, not “are
inheriting”), He was not letting us off the hook so easily as to say all of these
things will come about at some later day.
He was not saying, “Start being
meek after My Second Coming, and you’ll inherit the earth”. He was
saying, “Become a meek person, and you’ll have a place in my new Kingdom, which
I’m founding as we speak. If you follow the principles I am laying down
right now, I’ll be sure you reap the rewards I deem just. Otherwise, you
will be laying up for yourselves nothing but worthless, temporal junk, which
will be all you will get. Nice knowing you, goodbye.”
The
basic behavior trait that should characterize any real Christian, that is, a
true follower of Christ, should be that of unquestioning
obedience to the Master, Jesus Christ. And that means paying
attention to, no, not “what Jesus would do”, as Bush would have it, but what
Jesus would have US do.
And
that’s no mystery. That’s what the “Sermon on the Mount” is. It’s a
laying down of “Kingdom Principles”, sort of like a heavenly “Constitutional
Convention”. It’s an explanation of the sort of behavior Jesus commands
from His followers, and what attitudes of the heart will bring about the
changes that demonstrate the sincere follower’s willingness to obey the Master.
It’s
interesting to note that the “Sermon on the Mount” is also the source of the quote, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”