THE BEATITUDES V

THE BEATITUDES V

Jesus then goes on in the Sermon on the Mount with the sentence, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," Matthew 5:5 

Suppose there was a nuclear war. What would be the targets of the bombs? Big cities? Nations' capitals? Why? Because the enemy would want to destroy what it would consider the places of wealth and power. It would want to weaken the other country so it could conquer it. In a nuclear war this might happen to both sides of the conflict as both sides aimed their weapons at each other.

So who would be left? People in the countryside, in the smaller towns and cities. People that would not be considered as important. Are these the meek? Those without much power or influence. Those who are not thought of as very capable. What's left of the world is theirs. Have they inherited the earth?

This may not be the best illustration, the best story or parable to talk about what Jesus meant here. However, I think it points us in that direction. When we think we are intelligent, capable, rich and powerful, we may not think we need anybody else, especially not God. If we turn our backs on God, he cannot and will not bless us. But if we don't think too highly of ourselves, as the Apostle Paul advised us in Romans 12:3: "For I say…to everyone among you, not to think of him or herself more highly than he ought to, but to think soberly, according to what God has given each of us according to the faith given us", then there is room for God to bless us. A song from a once popular musical production goes something like this, "The luckiest people in the world are those who realize they need people." As Believers, I think our version of that saying could be enlarged or expanded to say: "The most blessed people in the world are those who realize they need God."

So, if we humble ourselves and are meek before God, there is a reward. But what doe it mean here then, "they shall inherit the earth." We will become its owners, its rulers? We will have everything in it? Actually, if we believe God is the Creator and we are his Children, we are co-owners of the world. It is ours. We can enjoy all that God made the world to be for us. That is different than what most of us have been fooled into thinking we need. We are misled by our society and our cultures to think we need all kinds of things, we need to be in certain positions; we need wealth and power to get what we want or need. That is all human and man-made desire. Let our desires be the same as God's. Then we will be content, then we will feel like we have everything. Then we will have inherited the earth.