I read in the news yesterday about the Burmese government’s attempt to eliminate Christians from the land of Burma. One of the major media that reported this news was the Sunday Telegraph of London. The following is the beginning part of the report:
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The military regime in Burma is intent on wiping out Christianity in the country, according to claims in a secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry. Entitled "Programme to destroy the Christian religion in Burma", the incendiary memo contains point by point instructions on how to drive Christians out of the state.
The text, which opens with the line "There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practised", calls for anyone caught evangelising to be imprisoned. It advises: "The Christian religion is very gentle – identify and utilise its weakness."
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Did you hear that, the totalitarian regime said that the Christianity is very gentle? I am proud of the fact instead of feeling threatened, because that means the Christians there are living a Christ-like life. Jesus asked us to learn from his meekness or gentleness. He said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:28, KJV)
The Greek word for meekness πραΰς “praus” means gentleness of spirit. It is the outward poise of inner spiritual strength. Unfortunately, the totalitarian regime thinks it is a weakness. The Bible teaches us that meekness is also sign of wisdom. The Epistle of James said, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” James 3:13 (RSV)
The regime’s purpose for wiping out Christianity is to make every home Buddhist. Even though there is only about 6% of the population being Christians in Burma, they still feel threatened by the meekness of Christianity. Buddhism is supposed to be a religion that worships wisdom. Since meekness is a sign of wisdom, by intending to eliminate the meek, it seems to me that they are trying to wipe out wisdom from the land.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.” The meek will never wiped out but God will give them the inheritance of the earth. If the meek Christians can be wiped out from the earth the Roman Empire would have done it two thousand years ago. They couldn’t even keep Jesus in the tomb for more than three days, and today there are 2 billion Christians around the world. Sociologically speaking, no one has more influence in human history than this carpenter’s son Jesus.
The amazing thing about Christianity is that it is resilient. When Jesus was killed he came back to life. When the followers were oppressed, they multiplied. During a decade of Cultural Revolution in China, Christianity was assumed wiped out. But after China reopened the door, they found out that the Christian population has grown a hundred folds under the oppression. During those years, they didn’t have Bible to read. There were very few Bibles available, which were secretly kept because it was illegal to possessed one. Those few Bibles were taken apart in to 66 little books, so that more people can read from one copy of the Bible and also make it easy to hide.
Today we are talking about the third milestone on the journey of the fruitful followers, based on the 8 beatitudes. Jesus called those that are in the first milestone, the poor in spirit, because they realize that they have a long way to go. He said they are blessed because a fruitful life is waiting for them.
Then last week we focused on the second blessing for those who are on the second milestone. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” The Holy Spirit is known to be the Comforter. He comes those whose hearts are broken by the things that break the heart of God. It is a painful moment because we mourn for the death of our own egos. It is like a seed that allows its hard shell to break open and germination begins.
Today we are focusing third milestone—“blessed are the meek.” At this point, the ego is death. (Slide). We become totally submissive to the power of God. This is the stage that we are able to “let go and let God.”
The word meek or meekness appeared in the Bible for about forty times and it is often described as a good virtue. We will look at the three most important teaching of the Bible about meekness.
1 – Meekness: an image of Jesus Christ
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:28, KJV)
John described Jesus as the Word became flesh. The so called Word is translated from a Greek word Logos, which has a much more sophisticated meaning than Word. It is the equivalent of the Chinese word Dao. Dao or Logos means not only the word, but also the way, the truth, or the secret of life. In the ancient scripture of the Dao, called Dao De Jing compares Dao with water.
Listen to this paragraph and see if you can identify the nature of Christ who is Dao became flesh, “The supreme virtue is like water. Water benefits all creation but never fight with any one. It deals with the lowly places where human disdain. Therefore resembles the Dao. A person of great virtue lives on the lowest ground, bears serenity in heart, treats others with kindness, speaks with integrity, rules with peace and order, gives the best at work, and acts according to good timing. Because this person is not contentious, there is nothing to blame.” (Dao De Jing, Chapter 8)
Water is meek, it stays in the low place, it refreshes all creation, it flows around the obstacles. It is soft but over times could penetrate the rocks. The meekness of Jesus Christ breaks the power of death.
2 – Meekness: fruit of the Spirit
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; (Gal. 5:22-23)
One of Paul’s famous quote is “Whenever I am weak, I am strong.” He said that he learned it the hard way. Paul was suffering from some kind of illness or disability the he called a thorn in his flesh. We don’t know what he meant, but some scholars speculated that he had some kind of eye problem, as recorded in the book of Acts. He asked God to remove that disability so that he can serve God more effectively. He said, “three times I prayed, but three times God refused to heal me.” But then he heard God saying to him that ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’
Sometimes Christians take this to the other extreme. They think being meek is being passively submissive. It is not. It is actively trusting.
In fact the kind of meekness that Jesus was talking about is a combination of confidence and humility. It is the ability to in the same time submit to God’s guidance and move forward with faith. It is like a germinated seed that gently absorbs the nutrition from the nature and in the same time push its seedling upward with courage to an unknown territory.
God obviously doesn’t like the passive meekness. Jesus used the Parable of Talents (read Matthew 25:14-30) to express God’s detestation of the passive meekness. The passive meekness is like the servant that never took the risk to multiply what the master had given him. It is like a seed that never germinates and grows, but plays safe in its own little shell.
The biblical Meekness would be like what Robert E. Quinn calls “adaptive confidence.” Quinn wrote:
The concept of adaptive confidence is a marriage between confidence and flexibility. Being flexible means being open to learning and change. People with adaptive confidence understand that the most powerful learning is found in improvisation. They are secure enough to push forward into uncertainty while seeking feedback on their successes as well as their failures. Instead of being frozen by uncertainty and doubt, they can move forward in most situations, taking initiative while remaining open to feedback and learning while they move. They are simultaneously stable and changing. They live in positive, creative tension with their changing environment. (Quinn 2004)
If you look at the life of Moses in the Bible, you would see that there is a constant tension of living between obedience and courage. The Bible calls this man meeker than “all men that were on the face of the earth.” Jesus also said, “I am meek and humble in heart” (Mat. 11:29).
3 – Meekness: an act of wisdom
“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” James 3:13 (RSV)
Han Xin was known to be one of the greatest generals in the Three Kingdoms period in the history of China. His parents died when he was young and he lived his childhood in destitution. However Han Xin grew up with an ambition to become a great man. It was told that one day he was confronted by a couple of hoodlums. They tried to pick a fight with him, asking him either to fight with them or crawl under their crotch.
Instead of resisting with a fight, he crawled through under their crotch. This story was popularly known among the Chinese as, “The humiliation of crawling under someone’s crotch.” His focus on a greater purpose in life allows him not to sweat the small stuff and waste his life on some ruffians. A few years later he became a general. He was an example of the meek that inherited the land.
When you have God’s kingdom as you first priority, you are able to treat the trivial matters trivial. A lot of people spend their life fighting over unimportant issues and miss the important. The meek are those that are able lower their egos down and control their reactivity for the sake of concentrating their energy on their greater purpose.
Jesus requires us to have this attitude. He describes this vividly a few verses after he announced the Beatitudes, “But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” (Matthew 5:38) This is the act of a meek.
However, many people take this verse in a wrong way. If you understand the context, and realize that he is asking us to put the kingdom of God our life’s top priority, you will easily understand what he is really talking about. He is asking us not to “resist an evildoer” because you will end up wasting your life as someone who “seek first the resistance of an evildoer,” and miss the opportunity to “seek first the kingdom of God.”
People often think Jesus is asking us to be doormats of other people, and some Christians do practice this to the extreme. However, Jesus never wanted his followers to be wimpy cowards. When he tells us to turn the other cheek, he wants us to turn it with courage—the courage that comes from the desire to focus on the kingdom of God and refuse to waste time on the evildoers. There is a saying, “If Satan cannot make you bad, he will make you busy.” As long as the devil can engage you in a fight, you become too busy to bear fruit.
Christians actually are commanded to wear meekness like clothes. Paul requested, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12). The Bible says,
• God preserved those who are meek. (Psalm 76:9)
• The meek are exalted. (Palm 147:6; Matthew 23:12)
• They are guided and taught. (Psalm 25:9)
• They are richly provided for. (Psalm 22:26)
• They are beautified with salvation. (Psalm 149:4)
• God increases their joy. (Isaiah 29:19)
• They are going to inherit the earth. (Psalm 37:11)
So clothe yourself with the meekness of wisdom, not only that you will never be wiped out from this earth, but you will be blessed and given it as inheritance, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5). Amen!
May God bless you on the journey of the fruitful followers!
