Meditate on it

  "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  -Matthew 5:5 Gentleness, by Irena Sophia I don't know very many gentle people--a few.  And, of course, you have to force yourself to think of them because they don't distinguish themselves usually.  They are quiet types.  They quiet waves instead of making them.  They may be viewed as "passive," an adjective that our culture demeans by equating it with meekness.   Yet, according to Vincent's Word studies, that's exactly what Jesus meant---mild, gentle, "it was applied to inanimate things, as light, wind, sound, sickness. It was used of a horse."  The first light of early morning or late afternoon, a soft breeze, a whisper...  This is what it may look like in nature.   Jesus uses it also to describe himself:  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is

Every one flies from sorrow, and seeks after joy, and yet true joy must necessarily be the fruit of sorrow. - Adam Clarke "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  -Matthew 5:4 How can mourning render one happy?  This is especially the case when Vincent's Word Studies defines this type of mourning as "signifying grief manifested; too deep for concealment. Hence it is often joined with κλαίειν, to weep audibly (Mar_16:10; Jam_4:9). Blessed are those who fall apart outwardly and weep aloud?  Blessed are those undone with their grief? This is an exact emotional state that I work hard to avoid.  When I break down in tears, it means that I am at the absolute end of my resources, at a complete loss of what to do.  These types of tears come when I am personally defeated. But perhaps this kind of sorrow is not primarily a self-focused type of sorrow. McNeil in the RWP notes that this kind of sorrow “is most frequent....for mourning for the d

I've read the bulk of the mainstream commentaries on the Beatitudes with some success.  Three weeks in, I keep trying to lay ahold of them in a deeper way.  Though I am not getting much farther in terms of specific understanding of the verses, I do feel like I'm moving forward in a gentle but significant way.   One of my biggest obstacles has been the concept of being blessed. Originally, the concept of blessedness, which comes from the Greeks, does not carry a sense of morality with it inherently.  In its earliest use, it meant simply "happy" and was used in conjunction with the condition of the Greek Gods.  They were deemed happy because they were apart from and above from the frustrations and evils common to man.   In the Bible, blessed still carries this primary meaning of "happy," although through centuries of Christian use, the term has taken on different connotations.  When someone uses the term today, it conveys a sense of moral judgement

Corita Kent, Beatitudes Wall, 1964 I've stalled in the Beatitudes for two weeks now.  Every time I revisit the words, I find new  reasons to linger.  Pithy statements.  Deep waters.  Each pronouncement is a riddle.   The "blessed" are characterized by traits that our world tries to avoid: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. We value the rich in spirit. We value those who are joyful. We value the self-confident. We value having received justice. They strike discord in my spirit.  They seem unnatural, counter-intuitive.  Don't we pity those characterized by these words?  Don't we kindly wish--even pray--for such oppressive circumstances to resolve? And what does Jesus want me to DO with these statements?  Should I count myself blessed when I match the description, rendering them as a kind of spiritual pep talk? Should I coun