Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
Matthew 5:5
This beatitude is, I will admit, one of my favorites. Not because I am meek by any definition of the word. Maybe it’s a little because it’s easy to remember and everyone seems to know it. But mostly because of the idea that someone who is quiet and gentle, submissive to God and His will, will gain peace and comfort.
The idea of being meek can be particularly difficult for us as adults to understand in this world where we are taught by society to make our mark, determine our own paths, and set ourselves towards our goals regardless of who we may step upon in the process. The thought of being submissive in today’s culture has a negative connotation that many adults try to avoid. How can we be successful in a career if we are submissive? Oftentimes wives who are submissive to their husbands are chastised (even though Ephesians 5:22-33 clearly states otherwise). And for that matter, husbands who are submissive to their wives are made fun of, often asked who is wearing the pants in the relationship.
Even further, it can be a difficult idea for young children to grasp for an entirely different reason. Children are learning independence. My mom always jokes that I was the “My do it” child, and now both my children seem to have carried on that gene. Little ones are trying to assert their thoughts and way through their world so that they learn right and wrong, process and procedure. By being assertive, they are developing their own voices while learning consequences. This independence isn’t something that we want to dampen in our children.
So how do we convey meekness to our children without damaging their need for independence?
Discuss with your kids
To be meek does not mean to be weak. We can ask our children – Was Jesus weak? Did he allow wrongs in the church to be continued? Did he stand up for those who had less? Did he seek revenge on those who had wronged him?
Jesus defined himself as meek. He submitted himself to God and all that His Father had planned for him. He was forceful when he needed to be, such as when Satan visited him in the desert or in the temple prior to Passover, but his path to God was a different matter entirely. When it came to his path as defined by God, Jesus was meek. He gave up control of His life to God for the greater purpose that God had for Him.
After the Passover meal, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsename to pray to God. Jesus knew what was to come. He understood that He was going to die the following day. Can you imagine knowing such frightening information? When He prayed, what did He ask of God? Did he demand a different path? Did He threaten God or through a tantrum to get His way? No. Instead, when He realized what God required of Him, He submitted Himself to the path to come.
Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible for this cup to be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 26:39
The disciples, instead of praying in the garden like Jesus asked of them, fell asleep – THREE TIMES. They felt that their decisions were an acceptable choice rather than following the instruction of Jesus. In this moment, they were not meek.
Jesus’s path to the cross was hard. It was painful. It was terrifying. It was His death. The people who, just a week prior, seemed to turn on Him, laughing at Him and antagonizing Him. And yet, through it all, he followed what God wanted instead of what He wanted.
God has a plan for us, too, everyday. I once had a friend who related God to us as parents when we are trying to get a child out the door who is being resistant. Just like we do as parents of our children, God knows what is to come for us. He has seen our entire paths and knows what we do, how we sin, how we ask for forgiveness. He knows our faults. But He also knows all the greatness that is before us. He knows what is waiting for us in the kingdom of Heaven. Now if He could only get us to stop throwing the tantrum that we aren’t getting it exactly how we want, get our shoes on, and get out the door towards the path He has set for us.
Questions to ask
- What is a situation where you may need to do something that you don’t really want to do? Is it difficult to do something you don’t really want to do?
- Why do you think Jesus didn’t demand God come up with a different way so that He didn’t have to die?
- How do you think Jesus felt when He decided to follow God’s path for Him?
- What do you think are some of the things God wants you to do?
- How can we show God that we want to follow His path for us?
Activities for those who wish to show meekness towards God’s plan
- Pray daily for God’s guidance in how you should live your life. God is always providing signs and showing us our path. Sometimes we are so focused on what we want the path to be that we miss the signs for how He wants our path to be.
- Reflect at the end of the day about your choices that day. Were they choices you felt God called you to make. How might your choices change the next day to better reflect God’s will for you?
- Seek peace over revenge. When we are angry with another, when our children are upset because they didn’t get their way, or when want to punish someone for a wrong they committed against us, remember how Jesus asked for God to forgive us. In the midst of pain, He still was surrendering to God’s will and asking, not for revenge, but for forgiveness.
- Stand up for what’s right. Meekness does not mean weakness. When we see something that is wrong, we can stand up for what’s right in a way that honors God, such as Jesus’s actions or Moses’s actions against the Pharaoh.
The journey towards Easter Sunday is not always joyful. What was once a celebration on Palm Sunday turns dark in the Garden of Gethsename. Life, parenting, and growing up will all have times where celebrations quickly turn dark and we will ask God to take away the hurt and the pain. We will ask God to make our path less difficult. Much like Jesus’s path towards resurrection, if we are meek and submit ourselves to God’s will, we too will inherit the earth.