Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Only three people in Scripture are ever called ‘meek’. Moses is called meek once (Num. 12:3), Jesus is called meek twice (Mt. 11:29; 21:5), and those that are ‘Blessed’ are also called meek.

So what does it mean to be meek?

When Jesus speaks these words: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” He is actually quoting explicitly from Psalm 37:11 and implicitly from Isaiah 61:1. In both cases it carries the sense of humility.

The Greek word in Mt. 5:5 that we translate as ‘meek’ is ‘praus’. In many other translations and verses of Scripture, meek is often otherwise rendered as ‘poor’ or ‘afflicted’. In Mt. 5:5 it therefore carries both senses of being humble and of being afflicted. It could be translated as one who has been ‘humbled’ or ‘humiliated’.

So far being meek doesn’t sound all that exciting or enticing or blessed.
So what is so blessed about being humbled?

The key is in the being made poor, humbled, or afflicted. Someone is responsible for the causing of, or sustaining of, people who live a humiliated existence. Active oppression of any kind, by those with the means to oppress, will cause people to be afflicted. Likewise, denying care for the oppressed, by those who have the means to care, actively sustains the afflicted state of the oppressed. The meaning of meek in Mat. 5:5 then, does not mean “submissive, mild and unassertive, but those who are humble in the sense of being oppressed (hence ‘have been humbled’), bent over by the injustice of the ungodly” (Stassen and Gushee, Kingdom Ethics, 40).

In our society, and perhaps in every society around the world, there are those who live in an oppressed and afflicted state. The history of people with developmental disabilities could be described as just that, ‘oppressed and afflicted’. Yet, because they have lived, and are still living an un-liberated quality of life, these are the humbled or meek that Jesus speaks of in Matt. 5:5.

They are ‘Blessed’ because God is on their side.
God anointed Jesus to:
“bring good tidings to the afflicted,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of prison to those who are bound . . .”
- Isaiah 61:1

When I read words like afflicted, brokenhearted, captives, and bound in prison, it immediately conjures up in my mind how people with developmental disabilities have been inhumanly treated in the past. Truly God has been at work in our society closing institutions and opening homes for these meek individuals. They are ‘Blessed’ because God is advocating for them. He is seeking to undo their oppressive state. That’s where we come in.

At the very moment we became a Christian we were grafted into the Body of Christ, anointed by God through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. As such, every Christian everywhere is to:
“bring good tidings to the afflicted,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of prison to those who are bound . . .”
- Isaiah 61:1
Whatever our gifts, whatever our calling, it surely must involve advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves, seeking out the oppressed and then seeking to undo their oppression.

My 1.5 cents,

Jamie Hussain.

Note: Jamie is a full time student at McMaster Divinity School. He has worked for a number of years for CH in the Hamilton area. He is presently doing a summer work placement with Pastoral Ministries. He is planning on doing advanced studies in the areas of theology and disabilities.