In today’s GB News Daily Reflection, we remember how Jesus himself challenged powerful people and spoke out against wrongdoing, but he did so without being driven by a need for personal power.
“When Jesus said, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. In Matthew’s Gospel, chapter five, he profoundly shocked and confused his audience of the time in the context of this first century culture.
“Meekness sounded like weakness and therefore something to avoid and certainly not to aspire to. In the ancient Roman and Greek world, the earth belonged to Strutt, the strong and aggressive.
“And so to the Jewish listener living under Roman oppression, it was hard to hear, as they were expecting the strong Messiah who would militarily overcome their oppressors. Surely it was the powerful who would inherit the earth the wealthy, the ambitious, the people who knew how to get ahead in life.
“But Jesus was laying out a completely different way to live. He was teaching them about a different kind of kingdom. Meekness doesn’t mean we never stand up for ourselves or challenge injustice.
“Meekness isn’t weakness. It’s confident power that empowers other people and lifts them up. It’s to have backbone in the face of opposition because your source of power is different.
“Jesus drew on the love of his Heavenly father to be his entire identity. Meekness looks like choosing patience when we’re frustrated. Kindness when we feel we’re treated unfairly. Humility when we’d rather prove that we are right.
“Jesus’s teaching here is a manifesto for life. You are blessed and truly happy when you live this way. If it was shocking to the listeners of the day, it’s even more countercultural to our self-focused and power centred world. But this upside down way of living invites you and me to turn our perspective, the right side up, and to learn to live the Jesus way.”
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