The Beatitudes (Part 3)
Working for a harvest of fruit
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Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5 (NET)
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Something of note:
Matthew’s Gospel is written primarily to a Jewish audience.
Because of the cultural differences between the Jews of that day and us Westerners today, we can miss some of the obvious impact of a verse like this one.
Meek people are humble and patient.
I know we have a tendency to think of them as weak (after all, those words rhyme). Yet it’s just as valid to think of the meek as people who have power but restrain themselves.
Instead of lording their authority over others, they are humble.
Inherit the earth is a phrase almost any Jew would have understood.
Obviously we can think of the promised land, the beginning journey for that people.
More than that, there’s a whole psalm (37) talking about the differences between those who are favored by God (the godly) and those who are out of His favor (the evil).
This isn’t necessarily a prosperity thing.
It’s a reality of living a life within the rhythm of God’s universe.
Also, it’s not strictly about land.
I think back to the curse God placed on Men through Adam: that we would work hard, till the land, and it would still sometimes produce thorns & thistles.
There’s a bigger principle there, that the hard work we do will sometimes fail to bring a harvest of fruit. Sometimes all our hard work brings is metaphorical thorns & thistles.
At least if I’m meek, I have a better chance of yielding a fruitful harvest.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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