Musing about Meekness

"Blessed are the meek," Jesus says, "for they shall inherit the earth." Thinking about this passage yesterday, I was reminded about something James, the brother of Jesus, would later write:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:1-3

Quarreling is of course a product of unmeekness. Each one wants what he or she wants, and that they get it is the overriding concern. But our wants conflict, so the wants of one are set against the wants of the other. It gets extremely complicated and entangling, and frustration--frustrated desires--is the result. In our frustration we bring these desires to God--God, I want it, I want it bad, I've been wanting it for so long, please satisfy my desire!--we ask wrongly. Our wanting becomes a burden, and we want to be rid of wanting, and simply have what we desire, but of course this can never be. Sometimes I think what we really desire is the feeling of not wanting any more, but simply of having. Always having. Like someone who has come into a fortune suddenly, and can always have whatever he wants. So we play the lottery, or we cheat on our taxes, or we go into massive debt, or we quarrel in frustration within our own family, which is made up of other frustrated wanters. Oh who shall save me from this body of death?

The zen answer would be to quit wanting, I suppose, but good luck with that. The Bible answer is, rejoice in the Lord. Look at the last chapter of Philippians, where Paul mentions the names of two who had apparently been quarreling (he must have heard about it from Epaphroditus). He urges them to "agree in the Lord." I'm not exactly sure what that means--maybe they are to focus on their having the Lord in common, though they may disagree about some lesser thing. Anyway, right away Paul says--is it his antidote to quarreling?--"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand."

Odd that he says "reasonableness" here, at least I've always thought it odd. Not a typical Pauline word perhaps. Except that it is the antithesis of quarreling. The ESV Study Bible footnote says of this word: "Reasonableness is crucial for maintaining community; it is the disposition that seeks what is best for everyone and not just for oneself."

Which reminds me of something Paul said earlier in this same letter:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Meekness. You begin to see that our oneness must be Christ-centered. We rejoice in the Lord because Christ has made such rejoicing possible, opening the way. But all our quarreling is self-centered, not Christ-centered.

Years ago, I was in a quarreling church. It was awful. People seemed to have nothing in common except which side they were on in the great ongoing quarrel. It was devestating, sinful, God-dishonoring, Christ-spurning, and a dreadful testimony to the world.

Which brings me back to the meek. Jesus says they're the ones who are going to inherit everything. Yes, the whole world! It's all going to be theirs! James says we quarrel because we desire what we not not have, and by quarreling we hope to get what we desire, but here is James' brother, Jesus, saying by implication, guess what, it doesn't work that way. I'm going to upend your selfish expectations and give everything to the meek, who never fought for anything, and who in this world's system were therefore always the losers in the great game of getting.

Now back to Paul: so why don't you two who have been quarreling just rejoice in the Lord together. What could be more reasonable than that! And instead of pleading with God for that which you've been quarreling for,

"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

See if you're anxious about nothing, it's going to change the way you pray. Instead of praying in the wrong spirit, out of our frustrated desire, we're praying out of our oneness in Christ, our rejoicing, and I would suggest certain kinds of long-time wants are just going to pale in that atmosphere, and we'll be praying with thanksgiving for what we've been given instead of out of frustrated desires. Amazing! And then the peace of God guards our hearts and minds!

[Cross-posted at Mount Jesus]