Meek


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.  Matt 11;29

Yesterday when thinking about what name of Jesus to write about the word 'meek' jumped into my mind.  I realised that Jesus doesnt often tell us much about His personality. Many of His ' I Am' statements describe His mission - I am the true Vine, I am the shepherd, the door, the bread  etc.  But here He tells us about His disposition, His nature.  He is meek and lowly in heart.   

If you look up a definition of meek it will say two things.  1) patient, long-suffering, or submissive in disposition or nature; humble  and 2) spineless or spiritless, compliant.  I suspect the second definition is a later addition to the dictionary - we are so good at taking something noble and demeaning it arent we?  We look at someone who turns the other cheek and instead of celebrating forbearance and forgiveness we call them a coward.  Thus the meek person not only has a slapped cheek to deal with but a harsh and unjust judgement about their motivation.   Translation from the Greek renders the word for meek as ' not being overly concerned with ones own importance' - so perhaps more like our word humble.  The Greek translation of the word ' lowly' carries with it the idea of being of low social status and one who serves a master.   


Yesterday I was watching a film which reminded me that it is easy to be cruel and hard to be merciful.  As fallen men our default position can so easily be to reach for sarcasm or a put down,  laugh at the awkward, point out the mistake, yell at the poor driver, slam doors and stamp on spiders.  It is easy to be mean and petty and ugly.  It takes grace and patience and forbearance to be merciful and kind and thoughtful.  It takes shoe leather and effort to walk an extra mile.  I don't think that Jesus found it easy to be who He was.  His meek and lowly heart didn't magically transform Him into a superhero of kindness ( I dont think)  I think that every act of healing, understanding, grace and mercy was a choice.  Just like it is for us.  I think Jesus constantly made good choices which over years made being meek and lowly a habit.

( Full disclosure  - as Im writing this Im aware that there's a book called Gentle and Lowly going the rounds which I have in a drawer waiting to read and havent yet :)  So these are my thoughts - I hope they tally with that authors. )

Interestingly in the passage in Matthew Jesus gives us the answer to the mental health crisis so many are facing.  If we can learn from Jesus how to be meek and lowly in our hearts then we shall find rest for our stressed and anguished souls.  ( Soul = mind, will and emotions)  The answer to our stress isnt being less busy, it isnt being more mindful, it isnt primarily even spending more time in our Bibles or in prayer.  It is actually to be found in cultivating a serving, patient, long-suffering ( ouch) heart and choosing every day to be merciful, generous, thoughtful, kind and unselfish.  

Maybe that can be a goal for 2023?



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