Lent day eight: meaning of meek

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land."

I have always had a difficult time understanding this particular beatitude. On the surface, it makes about as much sense to me as "Blessed are the lame, for they will take over the world." Obviously that is not what the actual beatitude says, it just sounds like that to me sometimes.

My confusion I think comes down to two ambiguous terms in it: "meek" and "the land."

"The land" is relatively simple -- it means the Kingdom of God, the entirety of gift that God wishes to give us. Think of the Old Testament "Promised Land."

For one, what is meek? What does a meek person look like? What does a meek person not look like?

Feeling quite lame, just now I looked up the term in the dictionary, and discovered that it has three meanings. One is "deficient in spirit or courage." At first I am inclined to think this may not work very well with the beatitude. But then I must remember that the psalm does not say the meek will "conquer" the land. It says they will "inherit" it -- i.e. that it will be given to them by one who is more powerful. Remembering that, the language of the beatitude is more credible, but only if the one who is "meek" submits to God in order to find greater courage.

Another meaning is "not violent or strong." This one too just makes a person sound weak and flimsy.

The first meaning listed is "enduring injury with patience and without resentment." Now this is something I can wrap my mind around. Jesus Himself was certainly a model of meekness in this sense. The ability to endure injury with patience and without resentment is the opposite of weak, the opposite of being deficient in courage. It takes real strength to endure injury at the hands of others with patience and without resentment.

So a "meek" person isn't some scrawny, helpless little man-child. It is a strong tower of a person who can take whatever anybody can dish out, patiently and without losing his temper. That is Jesus, right there.

The irony is that that kind of strength only comes from deference and submission to God. St. Paul says, "Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

The Israelites recorded in the Old Testament wandering the desert for 40 years in search of the Promised Land had to be meek in order to inherit it. They had to endure injury with patience and without resentment. Jesus invites us to share in his meekness, so that we can inherit the Promised Land that His perfect endurance of suffering has made accessible.