Bible Text: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 | Preacher: Pastor Karen Bartkowski | Series: The Beatitudes | Greetings!  I am Pastor Karen Bartkowski and I love being the Associate Pastor here at Lima UMC.  I have enjoyed being able to share my thoughts with everyone on Thursdays and I am really glad to be here today to dig into the Beatitudes with you.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Matthew 5:5.

First of all, I think it is really important that we do not see each of these statements made by Jesus in total isolation.  Jesus did not start his Sermon on the Mount, by saying, I have a list for you.  Pick and choose what you like, ignore what you don’t like or don’t understand.  No…Jesus had a purpose.  Matthew told us in verse 1 that Jesus sat down and began to teach.  He didn’t have a white board or a PowerPoint presentation with bullet points. No one went away with copious notes in their notebook.  He knew that his words needed to be organized, meaningful, relevant, and memorable.  As I imagined being there as Jesus taught, I wonder if he inserted some words that we don’t see in Matthew’s account.  Words that connect each of the Beatitudes to the one before it. Specifically, I wonder if he said AND THEN.

2 weeks ago, Pastor Dorry began our look at the Beatitudes with Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Remember what that meant?  Don’t worry, I will remind you!  Poor in spirit means surrendering what we want and being open to what God wants.  It means knowing that we can’t do God’s work without God.  We have to give up that control.

What if after Jesus said Blessed are the poor in spirit, he said AND THEN….Blessed are those who mourn…  As we give up control of ourselves and recognize our reliance on God, we are more likely to see those places we have missed the mark- the places we have sinned. And that realization of our sin can cause us to mourn, to be sad.

So, we are blessed when we surrender to God AND THEN we recognize our sin, AND THEN we are blessed if we are meek. Surrender and the recognition of our sin leads to meekness.

Now you might be saying, Pastor Karen, did Jesus really tell us to be meek?  Doesn’t the Bible tell us over and over again about the strength we have in Christ?  Didn’t we just finish studying 1 Peter where we found hope in the POWER of Jesus?  Jesus said to be meek? That’s not a nice word. That’s a word that is used to put people down. That’s a word used to describe weak people, people who let others walk all over them, doormats.  Is that really what Jesus wants us to do?

OK….slow down…yes, the word in the scripture is meek, And this is a great example of how important it is to understand the meaning of the original word- which wasn’t in English.  The Greek word for meek is praus.  I LOVE word studies.  In studying this word, I found a gold mine.  Listen to this story.

The word “praus” (Prah- oos) was borrowed from the military and relates to horse training.   “The Greek army would find the wildest horses in the mountains and bring them to be broken in.   After months of training they sorted the horses into categories: some were discarded, some broken and made useful for bearing burdens, some were useful for ordinary duty and the fewest of all graduated as war horses.   When a horse passed the conditioning required for a war horse, its state was described as ‘praus,’ [that is, meek].   The war horse had ‘power under authority,’ ‘strength under control.’  A war horse never ceased to be determined, strong and passionate.   However, it learned to bring its nature under discipline.   It gave up being wild, unruly, out of control and rebellious.   A war horse learned to bring that nature under control.   It would now respond to the slightest touch of the rider, stand in the face of cannon fire, thunder into battle and stop at a whisper.   It was now ‘meek’.”

 

That sounds a lot different than how we tend to use the word, right?  Only the strongest, best conditioned, gentle and self-controlled horses were fit for battle.

The horse did not give up its strength when it was called meek, it did not give up its power when it was called meek.  It became disciplined and controlled and then was called meek.  It retained its toughness and resilience and added gentleness and self-control.

I don’t know much about breaking wild horses, but I cannot imagine it is easy work.  I imagine the horse doesn’t want the bit in its mouth.  I imagine it doesn’t want the saddle on its back.  I imagine it doesn’t want to obey the commands of the trainer.  I imagine it fights and argues and tries to return to its wild ways.

But, once it is deemed, praus, meek, it receives the highest honor.  When the horse is able to maintain its strength and endurance and power, but be calm and controlled under pressure, it is rewarded.

So, we are not exactly like wild horses, but we can certainly apply some of these ideas to our lives as Christians. We may be wild when we think we have it all under control, when we are plowing through life without regard for others or the consequences of our actions.  We may be wild when we think we are better than others or the only person who can manage the situation or when we think we know everything about everything.

Paul tells us in the scripture that Stephanie read for us, that a thorn was placed in his side so he wouldn’t get conceited.  So, he wouldn’t be too full of himself.  He says he asked God to remove it but listen to God’s response to that request.  In the NRSV translation God says, “My grace is sufficient for you for power is made perfect in weakness.”  Paul saw the thorn as a barrier to his power, as an obstacle to his perfection, as a hindrance to doing what Paul thought made him strong.

But God says power is made perfect in weakness.  Power is made perfect when Paul became praus, meek. When he became aware of the areas of his life where he needed self-control and discipline.  Those areas where Paul was not perfect or gifted.

Paul’s weakness leaves room for God’s strength.  Paul’s pain leaves room for God’s comfort.  Paul’s imperfection leaves room for God to insert God’s perfection.  Paul cannot be strong, pain free or perfect without God.

Generally speaking, we don’t like to talk about our weaknesses.  Society tells us that strength is the reputable virtue.  If we have weaknesses, we must work diligently to turn them into strengths.  We don’t like to talk about those parts of our lives that aren’t perfect. Society tells us that we need to “fix” our imperfections.  We don’t like to acknowledge the places we struggle or the things we aren’t good at.  Society tells us to work harder or practice makes perfect.  We don’t like to admit places we have sinned.  Society tells us we should have known better and we are shamed.

 

But, let’s get back to Jesus’s words. That is NOT what Jesus says…

 

He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit AND THEN Blessed are those who mourn AND THEN Blessed are the meek.

This meekness is what comes after we mourn our sin.  Blessed are those who mourn AND THEN blessed are those who are meek.  We recognize where we miss the mark and then we acknowledge it, confess it, name it and then accept it.  We retain our power and strength, but we allow ourselves to be disciplined and controlled.

Jesus says blessed are the ones who can accept their weakness, blessed are those people who are willing to be vulnerable and talk about what they are not good at, blessed are the ones who realize it is OK not to be good at everything.  Blessed are those who know when being out front is necessary and when being quiet is necessary.  Blessed are those who can make room for others to use their gifts and their strengths.

As we move into this Beatitude, we start to see how Jesus is moving us from thinking only about ourselves to thinking about others.  Being poor in spirit and naming our sin is about us.  But, being meek affects others.  We are created to be in community, in cooperation with others. God works in community.  The very nature of God as the Trinity demonstrates the value of community.

As we acknowledge our own areas of imperfection, or weakness.  As we practice praus, we can start to recognize how God can use the gifts and strengths of others to compliment ours.  As we partner with others who have made room for our gifts and we have made room for their gifts, community is strengthened.

There are hundreds of team-building workshops that used this idea as a foundation.  Each member of the team answers a short questionnaire and based on the answers are assigned one of 4 distinct categories- different workshops use different categories- some are colors, some are letters, some are animals.  But despite the category the descriptions are similar.  There is the group of folks who are the ones who just get the job done.  They take charge and are like the energizer bunny until the task is complete.  There is the group that does the analyzing of every possible scenario.  The ones who make the lists of pros and cons, weigh the risk and benefits.  There is the group that just makes sure everyone is “OK”.  The ones who are always checking to see if everyone has been heard, if anyone has been left out.  The one who makes sure that the process and the outcome feel good and do good.  And finally, the people who just want to have fun.  If the process isn’t fun, it is not worth doing.  These folks have tons of good ideas of how something can be better.

Any community needs many of each of these types of people, right?  Think about your workplace, your family, your church.  Not much would get accomplished if we were all the same. We need the brainstormers and the analysts, the peacekeepers and job doers.  No one can be all of these, we need each other!

I think this idea is where meekness becomes real for me!

In those team building workshops, the goal is to help the team move forward. As the community of the body of Christ we need to move forward.  God calls us to transformation, to change, to growth. Not just as individuals, but as communities.  NO one person is responsible for that.  Not the pastor or the finance chair or the Sunday School teacher.  It takes everyone’s gifts- visitation, teaching, kids, youth, seniors, people who like to organize and those who like to cook…. the list goes on and on.  Can you imagine how the church would be transformed if everyone used their gifts? But can you also imagine the growth that would occur if we were also able to leave room for others to use their gifts?

If we used our gifts to their fullest, but if we practiced praus, meekness, knowing that we have places we are not gifted, but others are!  Meekness doesn’t mean we should think less of ourselves, but that we should think more of someone else.  Being meek means understanding that we are part of a community, something bigger than ourselves- what is our place?  What do we contribute? Where can we be disciplined to step aside and allow another the space and opportunity to contribute?

The meek horse maintained his strength and endurance, his gifts, but learned when that strength was most needed.

God tells Paul, power is made perfect in weakness.  Ironic, right.  Power and weakness in the same sentence.  Power and weakness make perfection.

Power and discipline, power and self-control, power and humility.  Power and meekness is perfect.

What is the blessing for being meek?

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Jesus was likely quoting Psalm 37.  Look that up today!

The phrase “Inherit the Earth” is another way to describe the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven- Early in Jewish history, the inherited earth was the Promised Land.  Now the promised inheritance is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven.  Just as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, on earth as it is in heaven.

Meekness is not only a blessing in heaven.  It is a blessing here on earth- it is a blessing that we can give and receive in our daily lives.

Our meekness leaves room for the perfect power of God to use the gifts of others to strengthen and perfect the community of Christians! Our meekness leaves room for the perfect power God to work all things for good! Meekness is powerful!

 

And all God’s people said, Amen.