CATM Sermon - October 2, 2005 - Mighty Meekness
J. Upton Dickson was a fun-loving fellow who said he was writing a book entitled Cower Power. He also founded a group of submissive people. It was called DOORMATS. That stands for “Dependent Organization of Really Meek And Timid Souls” Their motto was: “The meek shall inherit the earth, if that’s okay with everybody”. Their symbol was the yellow traffic light.
An old cartoon shows people demonstrating. The person in front in holding a sign reading "Please Support the Meek". Other signs in the protest march by the meek read: "Pardon Us", "No Offense Meant", "We Don’t Mean to be Pushy", and "A Modest Slice of the Pie for the Shy".
And finally, someone has said, “"Of course the meek will inherit the earth, what, did you think they’d take it by force?"
One of the synonyms that people associate with meekness is wimpiness. Some see meekness as an excuse for spinelessness and fragility. Of course, the truth is the opposite. Today’s passage challenges some very basic assumptions. We believe that power is what it takes to claim ground in this world. We think that military might, strong, persuasive leadership and a single-minded dogged focus on objectives is what yields results.
And then we’re faced with realties that don’t fit that model. Iraq has shown the weakness of the most powerful nation on earth. Since victory was declared by President Bush, hundreds and hundreds of American soldiers have died. Soldiers of the most powerful nation in he world tortured and abused helpless prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison. Thousands upon thousands of Iraqi fighters and innocents have died. Iraq is just this side of plunging into civil war. God help them.
We’ve seen how the use of force at the end of the second world war in the defeat of Japan created moral questions that are still being asked today. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Cities filled with innocent civilians. Was it right to kill 200,000 people to avoid the deaths of potentially millions more in a drawn out land battle? Those who live by the sword need to keep asking that kind of question if they are to remain human.
Whenever the choice is made to use power to resolve conflict, wounds are created in the soul of the nation that exercises that power.
But there is another way. It is not the way of war, of the brutal use of power. It is a way that doesn’t create “collateral damage”, which is the power-lingo for children and moms dying in battle.
It is the way of meekness. What is meekness, really? There’s one passage of Scripture that provides what I think is the best definition of meekness:
Col 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Compassion:
I watched a brilliant film with my son Jared a short while ago called, “Downfall”. It is about the last ten
days of Hilter’s Nazi Germany, the last ten days in an underground bunker when the realization of the colossal failure of Nazism and of its war efforts was dawning on Germany’s leaders at the time. At one point, Hitler says, “Compassion is an eternal sin. To feel compassion for the weak is a betrayal of nature. The strong can only triumph if the weak are exterminated”.
That is, of course, the voice of hell, the wisdom of Satan. It is ‘survival of the fittest’ at its worst.
To be meek in the sense meant by Jesus in our passage today is to have compassion on others. Compassion means “Suffering with”, it is the courage to put oneself in the situation of another and feel what they feel and as a result be moved, and changed. Meekness is power under control, and meekness is exercised in compassion.
God’s compassion for us is rooted in his deep love for you and me and his sensitivity to our pain. It was compassion that caused God to walk among us in Jesus Christ. It was compassion that brought the Son of God near to us and into the human experience. And the Christ we worship and pray to, never forget, is the Christ who has been on our side of the tracks, so to speak. The one you pray to has breathed the air you breathe, he drank the water we drink. He KNOWS first hand the sufferings and temptations and hardship of life.
That’s why the author of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”. Heb 4:15-16
Kindness
Someone said, “Guard within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. Know how to replace in your heart, by the happiness of those you love, the happiness that may be wanting to yourself.
Kindness is an expression of meekness.
Humility
Father Henri Nouwen was a friend and pastor to Yonge Street Mission until his death nearly eight years ago. He once said this: “When a person tells me he is not aware of God’s presence, I always ask him: are you aware of your own presence? You cannot be aware of God if you don’t see yourself, if you only use your mind to see God. Show God also your dark side; then you can have an exchange with God.
“If I show God all of myself, I will experience God’s unconditional love. I experience God’s all embracing, healing and loving presence. God does not judge and criticise me and liberates me from my critical superego which derides all my thoughts and actions. Praying means removing all criticism and showing God my life like a trusting child would. This would remove all the pressure to rid myself of my fears and to overcome all my inadequacies.
“I know I am totally accepted by God. This makes it easier for me to accept and love myself. And it makes me feel humble. Humility is the courage to face one own’s humanity. This is a prerequisite which allows us to have an authentic connection with God. Humility is essential on our spiritual path. My fragmented self will be healed and perfected if I know myself to be fully and totally loved by God”.
Paul said this: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Philippians 2:3-6
The challenge each of us face is to know who we are and to know who God is. We’re called to not think too highly of ourselves nor to be too harsh on ourselves. As I’ve said before, God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily.
Gentleness
The original word for meek can also be translated, gentle and gentle is a relational term. It has to do with our relationships with ourselves and with others.
It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer the pastor and theologian who died in a Nazi prison camp who said "the meek must renounce every right of their own and live for the sake of Jesus Christ. When reproached, they hold their peace: when treated with violence they endure it patiently, when men drive them from their presence, they yield their ground. . . they are determined to leave their rights to God alone... Their right is the will of their Lord---that and no more."
Patience
Patience is often associated with inactivity. Henri Nouwen explains: "True patience is the opposite of a passive waiting …… Patience means to enter actively into the thick of life and to fully bear the suffering within and around us... Patience is not waiting passively until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient, we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else. Be patient and trust that the treasure you are looking for is hidden in the ground on which you stand.
I was officiating at a wedding in the Niagara region on Friday, and an older man - a friend of the bride’s family - spoke to me about his spiritual journey. At one point he said, “I know the first thing that I’d like to ask God when I see him face to face”. I thought he might say that he wanted to know why there was such suffering in the world, or why God didn’t do such and such in his life, or some complaint about life. Instead he said, “I want to ask God: Why were you so patient with me? Why did you keep putting up with my wandering and foolishness for all those years?
Why were you so faithful when I was so unfaithful?”
Aren’t you glad that God is patient? Aren’t you glad that God is all these things, as shown to us in Jesus Christ? He is compassionate, He is kind, He is humble, He is gentle and He is patient.
Jesus said: “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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. Matthew 11:29-30
Jesus calls us to such meekness. Not a wimpy, spinelessness, but a grace-filled life where the power of God fills our lives and purifies our character so that we have the boldness to love as
Jesus loves.
Let’s pray. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your meekness, your tremendous power under control that you demonstrated in your life while you breathed our air and drank the water we drink. In your humanity you showed us the potential of our own lives when lived in reverent submission to God. Refine us where necessary, O God. Humble us. And won’t you let our lives reflect your perfect life, that others may see and know that you are the Way, the Truth and the
Life. In your holy and matchless name, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
