Blessed are the "Meek?"

“Blessed are the meek (praus), for they shall inherit the earth.”

Meek? As in timid, submissive, cowering, mousy? Let me ask you this: do those adjectives describe Jesus? Of course not. Yet, the only other two times the Greek word praus occurs in Matthew’s gospel, it's describing Jesus, specifically in his capacity as ruler and king:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle (praus) and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (11:28-30).

Say to Daughter Zion,

    ‘See, your king comes to you,

gentle (praus) and riding on a donkey,

    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey (21:5).

The royal background of the first passage may not be readily apparent. One of Jesus’ New Testament titles is “son of David.” Solomon, a first-generation son of David, was criticized after his death for the heavy yoke of his reign (1 Kings 12:4). So, at one level, Jesus is contrasting his reign with Solomon’s.

The second passage is a direct quote from Zechariah 9:9. Matthew uses this verse to describe Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem just days before his crucifixion. He rides on a donkey instead of a stallion, as a prince of peace rather than a military conqueror. When used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word praus often describes the ideal ruler or judge.

Note the NIV translation of praus as “gentle” rather than meek when describing Jesus in these two passages. While that gets us closer to the real meaning of praus, ‘gentle’ doesn’t capture the nuance and complexity of the Greek word. Instead of describing someone who is powerless, praus describes people who exercise restraint in their use of power.

Reigning Over Our Inner Lives

Most biblical interpreters over the centuries have understood praus in this third beatitude to be describing people who reign over their emotions, especially anger. In her book The Beatitudes through the Ages, Rebekah Eklund asserts that in the first 1500 years, the vast majority of Christian interpreters in the East and West understood meekness as the moderation of anger. Some have extended its application to other emotions and even desires, so “Blessed are the self-controlled” gets us closer to the truth. But that leaves out the positive qualities of humility, gentleness, and patience, all of which have also been used to translate praus. 

As you can tell, praus isn’t an easy word to translate. Which is why what may be the most quoted of Jesus’ beatitudes is often the least understood.

Praus in Light of the Larger Biblical Story

It may seem that I’m reading a lot into this beatitude. Well, yes: guilty as charged. One thing I’ve learned over the years from Tim Mackie at The BibleProject is that readers should assume the biblical writers are constantly communicating with the larger biblical story in mind, even when they aren’t explicitly referencing that story. Two pivotal stories within that larger story are the story of creation and the fall, as recounted in the first chapters of Genesis; and the Exodus story, or Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt and "inheriting" a new land. I believe that the Beatitudes (and the Sermon on the Mount in general) link to both stories. Jesus is both a new Moses and a new "Son of Man," or New Adam.

What I’m about to say expresses the Bible's most fundamental understanding of what it means to be human, and consequently what it means to be “saved.” It’s often been said that most Christians’ understanding of the gospel is too small. So is our understanding of Christian salvation and discipleship. For example, Jesus’ gospel wasn’t how to go to heaven someday (though that's one of the perks), but about heaven coming to earth, or this thing that Jesus constantly referred to as the “kingdom of God” (or kingdom of heaven). In the paragraph preceding the Beatitudes, Matthew writes: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news (gospel) of the kingdom." (4:23).

So any gospel that doesn't include the kingdom is too small.

But even those who grasp this broader understanding of the gospel can still have too narrow a view of Christian discipleship. For example, many believe discipleship is primarily about aligning our lives with Christ's character. Others focus on justice. Both, of course, are important, but as part of a larger purpose that corresponds with our original vocation, revealed already in the first chapter of the Bible. There we are told that God made all human beings in his image and made them to reign (please don't jump to conclusions about what that means):

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26).

So God made humans to reign over what he had made. What's radical and revolutionary about this Judeo-Christian understanding of the human vocation is that it applies to everyone. In ancient Near East cultures outside of Israel, only kings and sometimes priests were regarded as divine image-bearers, and consequently had the authority to rule over everyone else. Other humans existed basically as slaves to feed and serve kings and gods. The Hebrew Bible democratizes the image of God (and the accompanying authority) to include everyone. As with so many other innovative ideas in the Bible, this foundational understanding of what it means to be human was slow in gaining traction until Jesus came to be the perfect model as the “Son of Man.”

God's Vice-regents

Some of you may be thinking, "But surely Jesus is Lord, and not us!" Absolutely. But he shares his authority with us, just as God did at the beginning. That's what it means, for example, to pray "in Jesus' name." We pray in his authority. This helps make sense of what Jesus said to Peter and later to the rest of his disciples:

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19, 18:18).

This refers to the authority the rabbis had to interpret and apply the law. Jesus gives all his disciples this same authority to interpret and apply his teachings as well as the rest of Scripture. We aren't meant to do this on our own. We need each other and Christ himself to carry this "yoke" (a yoke being a symbol of authority). Listen again to what Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle (praus) and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Instead of imposing his yoke of authority, Christ invites us to share it, even mentoring (discipling) us in how to exercise it. To do this right, we need his Spirit within us and among us, which is why he says at one point, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

But this authority isn't limited to interpreting and applying Scripture (as daunting and controversial as that can be all on its own). Those who are meek "inherit the earth." That gets us back to our original vocation: being God's vice-regents over all creation.

So how is that going?

Not well, I'd say. God could arguably be accused of malpractice by sharing his authority with the likes of us. Given humankind's track record, I'm guessing many of us are going to feel uncomfortable with all this talk about reigning. We're inclined to agree with Lord Acton, who said, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

That's where the word "meek" or praus comes in. Jesus says his heart is praus or gentle and humble when he reigns, and he wants to train us to reign in the same way. This is what discipleship is all about: learning how to reign like Christ.

I wouldn't fault you for being skeptical about most of what I've written so far. This probably isn't how you've heard Christian discipleship described. I hope that a book I'm working on (tentatively entitled, Reigning in Life: The Purpose and Practice of Christian Discipleship) will more adequately lay out and clarify all that the Scriptures say about this.

Reigning in Life

I've already talked about Genesis 1 and a few of the many things Jesus said about our vocation to reign. But it's the apostle Paul who first gives us the phrase 'reign in life.'

It's found in Romans 5:17. I grew up in the church and have memorized a fair amount of Scripture, but until the last few years, this verse wasn't on my radar. Now I recite it every morning, and it's become the foundation for everything I believe about discipleship and salvation:

For if, by the trespass of the one man [i.e. Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Notice how the word "reign" is used twice in this verse. The first time Paul talks about how the shadow of death has reigned over human beings since the beginning. But now, because of "God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness" (that's salvation talk), our original vocation has been restored, which Paul describes as 'reigning in life.' That's what salvation is about. That's what our salvation is for, which makes perfect sense if it's for reigning that we were made in God's image in the first place.

Are you with me so far?

This isn't an isolated example either; in Romans 5 and 6, Paul refers to some kind of reigning or dominion an astounding 23 times, whether he's talking about sin reigning, death reigning, or our own reigning. So this isn't just a sidebar or sideshow. This is central to the apostle Paul's understanding of salvation. We see this even more clearly when we examine his thoughts on glory and glorification.

For example, Paul writes: "Those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified" (Romans 8:30).

The Roman Road to Glory

Most people associate the word “glory” with some kind of shining or heavenly splendor, but the word has more to do with reigning. Biblically, glory includes the entire triad of authority, honor, and usually some verifying outer manifestation (e.g. light, a miracle, or the fruit of the Spirit). For followers of Jesus, the greatest manifestation of glory in our lives is what Haejin and Makoto Fujimura call the "luminosity of love." Earlier in Romans, Paul talks about our falling short of God’s glory (3:23). That’s the glory we had when we were made in God's image to reign. In chapter 8, Paul talks about creation "eagerly waiting" for the redemption of our bodies and our “adoption to sonship" – which will be the sign that the original creation and creative order has been restored. ('Sonship' in the Bible always refers to some kind of reigning, whether referring to kings, angels, the Messiah, or God's image-bearers.) So the capstone of the New Creation will be the full reinstatement of our divine image-bearing royal stewardship or vice-regency.

There isn't space here to examine all of Paul's references to glory in Romans. (Haley Jacobs has written an entire book on this, with a foreword by N.T. Wright.) But our sharing God's glory (Romans 5:2 CEV) and being glorified is central to Paul's understanding of salvation, primarily because it affirms our original vocation. For us to be able to "reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ" is one of the main reasons Christ came.

Many other New Testament texts confirm this understanding of salvation and discipleship. Maybe the best confirmation can be found in the very last chapter of the Bible, where we learn that upon Christ's return, his servants “will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). That's why Dallas Willard describes Christian discipleship as "training for reigning." So the first and last chapters of the Bible provide bookends for this understanding of our human vocation.

It's Not What You Think

I recognize that the word “reign” conjures up all sorts of negative associations. Jesus said that true reigning has nothing to do with “lording it” over others, but everything to do with seeking to serve others and work for the common good. Jesus went so far as to say that people who are learning to reign in God’s kingdom see themselves as the slaves of everyone else (Matthew 18:1-4), just like Jesus. He said that he himself came to serve rather than to be served, and to give his life as a ransom for others (Matthew 20:28). This all fits with what it means to be "meek" or praus.

My triad for good reigning, based on Genesis 1-3, is that it seeks to bring order, beauty, and blessing to the world – basically, to cultivate, enculturate, and unfold creation's potential for increased flourishing. Keep in mind that God’s 'ordering' of things is always artful, organic, continually evolving, intimately relational, and wonderfully paradoxical. It’s never rigid, unbending, monolithic, or unchanging. The Sermon on the Mount, both in its form and content, beautifully demonstrates all three aspects of good reigning (including the fact that Christ chooses to “rule” through a sermon rather than soldiers!). Remember that each beatitude begins with the word "Blessed!"

Unfortunately, many people associate the word “meek” with powerlessness. But that doesn’t align with the meaning of praus. Remember that on the other two occasions Matthew uses praus, he applies it to Jesus as Messiah and ruler – and these are the only three times this specific adjective is used in the New Testament! Instead of describing powerless people, this third beatitude depicts people who exercise power with restraint, humility, and patience, just like Jesus and the Father (and unlike most of the world’s rulers). Someone exercising praus is seeking to influence rather than dominate, to share power rather than to hoard it, and chooses collaboration over coercion.

This includes collaboration between men and women, as we see in the first chapter of Genesis:

So God created humankind in his own image,

            in the image of God he created them;

            male and female he created them (1:27).

In addition to affirming men and women's equal partnership in reigning, this passage reminds us that being made in the image of God includes our capacity for relationship. We have hints of this right in the first-person plural pronouns God uses when declaring the intention to create humankind: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness....” Theories abound as to what the Old Testament writer would have meant by “us.” What’s clear is that communion, community, and reigning go hand-in-hand, just like they do within the Trinity.

It's What We Do

For better or worse, we humans have to reign. We don’t have a choice. This human vocation is embedded in our DNA. All of us have an enormous amount of influence wherever we live, work, play, and learn. In light of the biblical story and its description of human nature, it’s not surprising that there is so much unwise, cruel, dishonest, power-grabbing, violent reigning happening in the world today, as there's been throughout history. That's why Rob Bell says that if you take all the sin of the Bible, all you have left is a pamphlet. Even the best kings (there aren’t many) and saints in the Bible “fall short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23), the glory of their divine image-bearing vocation.

Sin as a Failure in Reigning

Consider the first time the word “sin” is used in the Bible. It’s found in the story of Cain and Abel, just after the ‘fall’ of their parents, Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel each offered a sacrifice to God. We’re not told why, but God was less than excited about Cain’s sacrifice. Instead of learning from the experience, Cain became obsessed with taking revenge against his younger brother. Unlike his parents, Cain had the advantage of God attempting an intervention, alerting Cain to the imminent danger:

Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:6-7).

So sin was “crouching” at the door like an animal ready to pounce. Remember that the first humans were explicitly told to rule over the animals. Here, sin is compared to an inner beast (or “chaos monster” in Hebrew parlance) that attempts to reign over Cain’s heart and actions. (We all know what that’s like.) Cain disregards God’s warning, and after inviting his younger brother to go on a walk, kills Abel in the field, choosing revenge over humility, violence over praus.

Adam and Eve failed to reign over the serpent (a standard representation of the chaos monster), and Cain failed to reign over his inner chaos monster. While anger is a legitimate and essential human emotion, when we allow it to fester and rule over us, it wreaks havoc. Other inner compulsions mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount – like lust, hate, dishonesty, pride, greed, gluttony, and anxiety – when left unchecked, also add to the chaos.

All this gets us back to what it means to be meek. Like I said, genuine meekness or praus is a characteristic not of the powerless but of those who exercise some kind of power and influence over both their inner lives and their environment. Jesus came to restore both our original nature and our original vocation. But the chaos of our inner lives must be addressed if we’re to tackle the chaos around us. Cain allowed his inner chaos to consume him, releasing human violence into the world with catastrophic consequences. That’s why the Beatitudes in general and this third beatitude in particular are crucial for our journey back to Eden.

Back to Eden

Eden? That’s right. Note the reward for those who choose the path of meekness: “for they shall inherit the earth.” This is a hyperlink back to when Israel “inherited” the land of Canaan, a land “flowing with milk and honey.” This was God’s attempt to create a new Eden. It failed, fundamentally because the Israelites failed to trust God, just like the first humans did. God guaranteed they would flourish and reign over the land if they gave him their exclusive allegiance and followed his instructions. The goal was that they would be a "city on a hill" and a light to the nations. Instead, they decided to hedge their bets and include local deities in their worship life. (The fact that these local shrines had cult prostitutes no doubt added to their appeal.) Instead of ruling over their lust, anger, and fear, the Israelites broke covenant with God and one another, at times even sacrificing their children to satisfy the blood lust of a particular god called Molech.

Part of the tragedy is that by worshipping the idols or images (same word in Hebrew) of these gods, they were rejecting their own unique status and vocation as God's image-bearers. Degrading themselves, they became slaves to their most primitive impulses.

Jesus wants to set us free. As we noted, interpreters have understood the third beatitude to be describing people who reign over their anger and other emotions and desires. Ruling over our inner lives also makes it possible for us to become humble, gentle, and patient in our outer lives.

A Path to Redemption

Like the Exodus story, the Beatitudes offer us a path to increasing liberation and freedom. Just as importantly, they offer a way to maintain our freedom. I often cycle through the Beatitudes when I’ve been thrown by something in my inner or outer life. This third beatitude is where I usually pause the longest, reminding myself that I am made to reign, and this is my opportunity to rise above whatever is happening. What's going on inwardly and outwardly may still be going on. Reigning doesn't mean controlling or eradicating. It means using and influencing whatever is happening for God's good purposes and kingdom.

God has a knack for using evil for good, and wants to teach us how to do the same.

So, here is my broad interpretation of the third beatitude: Blessed are those who reign in life with humility, gentleness, and patience. Yoked with Christ, they join other divine image-bearers in offering the world a glimpse into God’s coming New Eden community and kingdom.

Without humility, gentleness, and patience, we can't reign together very well, which is what God wants. It's the lack of these three praus qualities that's causing so much division within our country right now. We've all benefited from God's humble, gentle, patient ways with us, and it's only right that we demonstrate the same "meekness" with one another.

Standing Upright

For those of us who struggle with self-esteem, or feel disqualified from playing a part in God’s work because of past failures, this beatitude offers good news. Jesus offers us not only forgiveness but the complete restoration of our original status and vocation. As our teacher and yokefellow, Jesus wants to apprentice us in the art of reigning in life wherever we live, work, play, learn, and worship. Of course, character is essential for good reigning, and so a lot of our training is about how to develop and maintain the character of Christ under fire.

So whatever your circumstances right now, stand straight in your spirit and take on the mantle of authority connected to your vocation. Allow nothing and no one to reign over you, except the living God, and remember that your authority is for serving rather than bossing people around. Reign with humility, gentleness, and patience within the spheres you’ve been assigned, collaborating with others to bring order, beauty, and blessing wherever you live, work, play, learn, and worship. The injustice and chaos will end someday (fourth beatitude). Until then, use whatever influence and resources you have to help victims of injustice and other forms of suffering (fifth beatitude). Allow the mercy of forgiveness and generosity to purify and rehabilitate your heart (sixth beatitude) so that you can be a bridge-builder and peacemaker (seventh beatitude), even if it means looking like a fool and being persecuted for promoting God’s upside-down kingdom (eighth beatitude).

Resting While Reigning?

Before we end, let's go back once more to what Jesus said about staying yoked to him:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (11:28-30).

Are you feeling overwhelmed and exhausted? Instead of adding to our burdens, Jesus offers us a life where we can actually rest while we're reigning. Sounds good, doesn't it? That's why Paul emphasizes that we "reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." It's why Paul, in more than two hundred places throughout his letters, talks about our living "in Christ." So much of the art of reigning is learning the art of living in Christ. If we're willing, he promises to be a humble, gentle, and patient teacher.

Blessed are those who reign in life with humility, gentleness, and patience. Yoked with Christ, they join other divine image-bearers in offering the world a glimpse into God’s coming New Eden community and kingdom.

This is the life we were created for. This is your birthright. This is our destiny.

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