Blessed are the meek

msrjjackson
Jan 6, 2018
3 min read

So this blog post is a guided tour in to one of my thought processes. Ok you guys ready. Starts like this: friend sends me a verse and says: I think you could write something great on this. Wow no pressure. ( Shout out to Boo for always believing in me more than I do). I immediately have a bunch of thoughts and start writing this post 30 minutes in to the conversation that followed. So here is the verse:

My first 2 thoughts are a different verse in Matthew and that to me this verse speaks about the mentally ill. I don't even know why they pop in to my head. The other verse in Matthew: Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Hmm I've never associated the meek with the mentally ill; not that I am saying Jesus makes that connection. It's just something that springs up on me. And then questions: why do the meek inherit the earth. What does it mean to inherit the earth?

Now I immediately then think of the movie Split and how I am not saying that somehow being broken mentally makes you of a higher order than everyone else in the world (as is the theory of some characters in that movie). At this point in any of my thought processes there is way too much going on at once. So I pick a path: Meek.

What does it mean to be meek? From a study a long time ago I remember reading that meek means "strength under control". I do some more research. On bible study tools online Samuel A Meier says : "Meekness is therefore an active and deliberate acceptance of undesirable circumstances that are wisely seen by the individual as only part of a larger picture."

Reading this I start thinking maybe this really does support my theory that people with mental illness can be included on these "meek" that inherit the earth.

The thing I have experienced with my journey with mental illness is that if you don't at some level accept that your mind is a bit broken and decide to live despite; well that's when the illness wins. I guess this is what they are saying when they say meekness is accepting undesirable circumstances.

At the end of 2017 I was reading this book "The Broken Way - Ann Voskamp" which flipped the script on being broken for me. Ann makes it sound like such a gift. So all of these thoughts are coming together and I'm realising that it may not be about being broken. I mean Jesus said it : in this world you will have trouble but take heart for I have overcome the world. So Brokenness, mental illness is not the focus. Jesus was a man of sorrows. He promised us difficulty. Being broken is not a special members only club where we feel entitled to judge the rest of the world. Nope. Sorry

It's the despite factor. Or like Matt 4v16 puts it: “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."”‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4:16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

It's about the Light. What is the Light of this world: Jesus. Why will the meek inherit the earth? Why is it counted as privilege to be the people in darkness? I think because in darkness we have the opportunity to have a greater revelation of the Light. It's the same thing I think Paul is saying when he says: I boast in my weakness because in my weakness God's strength is made perfect (paraphrasing). When we suffer we share in the suffering of Christ. And when we share in the suffering and death of Christ we are promised also the inheritance of the rising to life again with and in Christ.