Blessed are the meek
Sometimes, before bed, I rewind my day to clear my mind and then ask questions I can’t seem to sort out. Last night, it was,
“Help me make sense of everything that’s going on. How should I act in a world that seems to have gone crazy? Should I argue, debate, fight?”
Many times, answers come to me in dreams – that’s where they came to all the characters in the Sunday school stories, right? Last night, my dream was dominated by angry political supporters (I literally wrote this in bed). And the realization hit me that what I feared about living in this world wasn’t any of the individuals themselves. I feared what they all shared— a show of strength as a response to injury, rejection or humiliation.
Then, a verse came to mind:
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
I once read that the Semitic root for “meek” meant the softening of what was rigid – like to make wood pliable again. What I was afraid of is living in a world full of hardened people.
Exodus tells us that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart when Moses asked him to free the Israelites from slavery. There’s something there – a soft heart might have freed the slaves, but God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he chose to continue enslaving them. Then God sent a series of plagues, death, and pestilence.
There’s a hard (literal) and a soft (metaphorical) way to read this story. I grew up with mostly hard readings, but as I get older, I’m trying to be meek. A soft reading might see Pharaoh as the mind or ego, craving control and hardened against change. Moses, then, represents the heart’s desire to free the soul (Israel) from bondage in Egypt, which can symbolize a state of fear or attachment. But with a hardened heart, the soul can never find freedom.
Whenever I need help, I return to the Beatitudes to find the antidote for a hardened heart:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
There are two more Beatitudes that talk about responding to persecution for living with a soft heart in a hard world. Softness is often mocked:
“You can’t be soft in a hard world, Matthew! They’ll eat you alive! Get stronger, build up your defenses, show them you’re tough.”
But that won’t get me into the kingdom of heaven. A hard reading might see heaven as a place you go after you die, but a soft reading, as Jesus suggested, sees heaven as a state of being – here and now. Softness means turning the other cheek – a quiet form of non-violence. If someone wants to take your shirt, offer them your coat as well.
Baked into Jesus’ response is the knowledge of polarity. You can’t extinguish fire with fire, nor hate with more hate. Sometimes, it takes courage to do the opposite – to meet rejection with radical acceptance. “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”
For much of my life, I read these and just got confused,
“It all sounds good, but… it’s just not practical. Who could actually live that way in a world like this?”
Biblical scholars believe these may be the closest teachings we have to the real words of Jesus. They’re unique, countercultural. Jesus grew up in a society where retribution – an eye for an eye – was the norm. So why have these teachings survived for 2,000 years? Because they work. But most of us will never commit to living a soft life; that’s the “small gate” and “narrow road” that leads to life, and only a few find it.
So, back to the question I asked before bed: “Help me make sense of everything that’s going on. How should I act in a world that seems to have gone crazy? Should I argue, debate, fight?”
My dream taught me that I fear a world full of hardened hearts, knowing it can lead to pestilence, death, and famine, like in the story of Exodus. But I also know I can’t give in to that fear, because only the meek will see the kingdom of heaven – a kingdom that can be here and now if we become like children: radically accepting and loving.
