Who are the meek and why will they inherit the earth? First, we must understand Jesus’ context and how his audience would have heard this statement. The word translated as “earth” in our English Bibles may also be translated as “land,” which is probably a better reading. This means Jesus is not speaking about who will take possession of the entire planet, but who will take possession of the land God had given to the descendants of Abraham. Throughout the Old Testament, the relationship between God and his people was linked to this land. Faithfulness to God meant they could dwell in the land in peace, but unfaithfulness to God meant losing the land and being forced into exile.
Centuries before Jesus, the Jews had returned from exile in Babylon to the land, but they never fully possessed it again. Unlike earlier generations that lived under the reign of Israelite kings like David and Solomon, after the exile, one pagan empire after another conquered the land and subjugated God’s people. By the time of Jesus, the Romans had taken control. This constant state of being under the thumb of pagan, idol-worshipping foreigners was unacceptable and humiliating to the Jews. In a sense, they were still in exile, because although they occupied the land, they did not control it.
This provoked a growing number of Jews to become zealots—violent revolutionaries. To the Romans, the zealots were terrorists, but for many Jews, they were celebrated as freedom fighters. The zealots believed in using the world’s violent ways to achieve what they believed were God’s goals. In other words, they were going to use the Romans’ own values of brute violence and oppression against them. They believed in fighting fire with fire. Zealots thought they could inherit the land by force.
By announcing that the meek were blessed and would possess “the land,” Jesus was undermining and rebuking the tactics of the zealots. He was proclaiming that it was not the powerful, violent, or angry who would accomplish God’s purposes, but the gentle, peaceful, and those who put their trust in God rather than the sword.
This is an important reminder for those of us living in a divided land where everything has become politicized between “us” and “them.” Like the zealots, we can be tempted to use the world’s ways—coercion, power, and fear—to “take back our land” for God. Instead, Jesus calls us to put such things aside and discover the power of God available through meekness. It is by trusting in the Lord, not the sword, that the land is won.
Daily Scripture
Matthew 5:3–12
Ephesians 6:10–20
Weekly Prayer
From the Liturgy of St. Basil (329 -379)
Remember, O Lord,
those who are poor and in need,
the widows, the orphans, the strangers,
those in captivity and those in exile,
the sick and the suffering.
Remember, O Lord, those who love us
and those who hate us;
those who have asked us to pray for them,
and those whom we have not remembered through ignorance.
Remember all Your people, O Lord,
and pour out Your rich mercy upon all.
Amen.
