Reflection for the month – November
A reflection…………………Blessed are the meek
When Jesus, in his longest recorded sermon, gave us the Beatitudes, (Matt 5. 1-12) he described what he was looking for in his followers, or what his followers should aspire to in order to become like Him. ‘Blessed are the meek…’ Nowadays meekness is often looked on as weakness, but it is not so at all. It is certainly a direct contradiction of the way many people choose to behave, lacking kindness, courtesy, being self-centered, aggressively proud and mercilessly uncharitable. Easy to understand then why ‘meekness’ might have no place in their lives. We might well ask where the ‘gentle’ gentleman or gentlewoman has gone.
Jesus’ hearers were left in no doubt that living the beatitudes would not be easy and they would almost certainly meet plenty of opposition, insults and persecution for their efforts. It is important to understand that these eight precious blessings are not as it were a multiple-choice selection, not an a la carte menu. They must be taken as a whole, for they describe what we, as Christ’s followers, should be like. The beatitudes present us with a challenge to the way we live each day. Blessed indeed are the meek, who show kindness and courtesy to others, are compassionate, not selfish, and share their time and resources with those in need, who are not concerned with self-aggrandisement through their charitable giving and works. We need so many more of them!