These may not be the qualities we associate with leadership and success… and maybe Jesus is inviting us to reconsider our criteria for leadership. His closest followers were not the cream of society’s crop – they were Galilean fishermen, tax collectors, women with “reputations.” And yet we honor them and know their names 2000 years later.
The first three “beatitudes” deal with emotional conditions:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are the grief-stricken, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
What does “poor in spirit” mean? I think of it as being at a low ebb, our spiritual energy sapped by fatigue or sadness or disappointment, our faith less than robust. I suspect most of us have felt poor in spirit. But we, Jesus promises, will inherit the fullness of God’s spiritual realm, the Life of God.
Similarly, most of us know what it’s like to mourn; for some grief seems to go on forever. But Jesus says we will be comforted. This doesn’t end the mourning, but can shift it into a different key, so that we manage to sing a new song even in our grief.
Meekness may be the one attribute here that is less common to us. I think of “meek” as passive, not pushy, not forwarding ones own agenda. We often associate “meek” with being a doormat. But I remembered hearing once that “meek” may not be the best translation of the Greek. In French Bibles the word is rendered “debonair.” That gives a different slant. As an essay I found online (link no longer live, alas) says, “Gone was Casper Milk Toast. Instead, my mental images were of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or of Gene Kelly, singing in the rain. I would so much rather be debonair than meek! The debonair are people who move with grace through life. They have style. Blessed are the debonair!”
The writer goes on to say that the Greek word can be translated ‘gentleness.’ "The word can refer to a strong animal such as a horse, who is well-trained and gentle in spirit, in spite of its strength. It can also mean the quality of being teachable — modest, generous, humble and considerate. In other words, those who are blessed are those who have strength, and yet use it with gentleness.”
You may or may not feel debonair today, but I hope you have a sense of your strength and your gentleness. God can work through us best when we combine the two. Perhaps that’s what it means to “inherit the earth” – to participate fully in God’s mission in strength and gentleness.
And when grief and dispiritedness are upon us, we might pray for more of the gentle power of the Spirit to fill us, to pump up our tires (the word for spirit is pneuma, after all…), to transform our mourning into joy. In making these feelings markers of discipleship, Jesus honors our emotional truth and invites us to bring all of who we are each day into the fullness of our God-Life.
And he offers hope for us when we’re not feeling so strong, reminding us, “This is not the end of your story.” He is the end of our story, and he will lead us there, as we follow.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteClarence Jordan wrote an accessible little commentary, published in 1956, revised in 1970, and still in print, called Sermon on the Mount.
I am very much influenced by Jordan's exegesis of the Greek, and it has made me a great fan of the sermon on the mount.
Jordan tells us that "poor in spirit" is neither being without physical resources (as the poor might claim) or being pious (as the rich might claim) but an attitude that relies on God's provision for all we need.
Along the way, I have also found very helpful an explanation for the Greek word πραΰς that we translate as meek. It is so much more than mild and unassuming; the Greek adjective was used to describe a horse trained to be biddable to its rider even in the stress of war, for example. It has a deeper sense, I believe, of willingness to do the Lord's will.
https://www.amazon.com/Sermon-Koinonia-Publication-Clarence-Jordan/dp/0817005013