Painting by Gérard Douffet, Taking of Christ with the Malchus Episode, 1620
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15 ESV)
Following humility, the Apostle Paul encourages believers in Jesus to be meek. Depending on the particular translation of the Bible you are using, this word meek is sometimes translated as gentleness. Paul instructs the people of faith to be meek or gentle in conduct and attitude. At times we can diminish the fullness of what Paul is attempting to convey to us with our misunderstanding of what it means to be meek. Often this concept is associated with weakness in the sense that we are blown to and fro by anything and everything that comes against us. Modern applications of the characteristic meek can be thought of in such ways, but this is not what Paul is suggesting.
I have often heard the term meek compared to that of a Roman warhorse, if we are attempting to draw closer to a Biblical understanding of the characteristic such an application is appropriate. A Roman warhorse serves as a physical example of power under control. The warhorse is a formidable, capable and strong animal. It is adorned with all of the articles of war, an intimidating weapon imposing fear in the opposition. Though the horse is incredibly powerful, it has been trained. The horse responds to the commands of the rider. It could easily break free from the command of the soldier in charge of the animal, but because it has been trained to focus on the task at hand, the horse remains to be power under control.
We see the example of power under control in the conduct of our Savior, Jesus. The night prior to His crucifixion, He was in the garden praying. It was here that Judas betrayed our Lord. As the soldiers sought to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword cutting off the ear of the one taking hold of Jesus. Immediately Jesus rebukes Peter’s actions, and heals the soldier. Jesus demonstrates the concept of being meek in his rebuke to Peter. He says, “Do you not think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that it may be so (Matthew 26:53-54 ESV)?” Jesus retains the capacity to utterly level His enemies at the mere expression of a word, yet He chooses to remain focused on the purpose of His first Advent. In this first appearing of our Savior, He came to willingly go to the Cross to offer Redemption to all who believe (John 10:17-18). Jesus did not allow the trial of the situation to distract His focus from walking toward His purpose. Power directed to accomplish His promise.
Another example of meekness, power under control, given by Jesus is found in the book of Luke. In chapter four, Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath. He picks up the scroll of Isaiah and reads the words declaring the promise of our God to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind and freedom to those who are oppressed (Luke 4:16-30). Upon reading the words of the prophet, Jesus rolls up the scroll and declares that the promise in the Scripture has been fulfilled at the hearing. Jesus proclaims that He is the One who has come to be the fulfillment of the promise given. At these words of Jesus, the crowds listening became enraged with wrath. They drove Jesus out of the town to a cliff. They intended to throw Jesus off of the cliff as a result of the rage that filled their blood. Jesus, in response to the rage levied against Him, simply walks through the crowd. He did not threaten, argue or attempt to fight any of those who sought to bring harm. He simply walked through them. He did this because His focus was on the greater purpose of His coming. His focus was on accomplishing the will of the Father. Jesus did not allow Himself to be distracted by the conflict in front of His eyes, because He came to fulfill a greater purpose. That purpose being the Savior of His children. He could have called legions of angels from the father to come down to destroy the voices berating Him with hatred, but instead He chose to remain meek, power under control.
It would serve all of us well to take the example of meekness given by our Savior in earnest. Our flesh is weak (Matthew 27:41). Too often we are enticed to react to hardship, affliction, anxiety stress with anger or frustration. In our flesh we lash out due to the feeling that whatever we are going through is too great a challenge for us to experience. The difficulty of the trial causes us to lose focus on our Savior. Rather than determining to keep our focus on our Messiah, the One who can provide the Help we need, we allow our focus to be arrested by the struggle. We begin to pay attention to the hardship, looking at the faces in the crowd rather than upon the promises of our God (Luke 4:16-30). The conflict, confusion, chaos steals our focus away from our Hope, and this can lead to a deeper feeling of despair. Rather than walking through the crowd empowered with the Hope of Jesus, we allow ourselves to be swallowed up in the calamity. The voices of the crowd drawing us closer to destruction. In this circumstance, we can begin to feel hopeless, lost and overwhelmed. Just one of many in a crowd of calamity without any relief. It is this sense of despair the enemy of our souls desires for us to come to know. he wants us to feel as if we are without hope and then to give up and give in to the chaos of the crowd. he thirsts for us to give up and allow the mob to push us over the edge of the cliff of brokenness. he wants us to forget that we have a Savior who walked through the crowd demonstrating meekness, power under control.
In this life we will have tribulation (John 16:33). Jesus tells us very plainly as much. But He does not tell us this to bring fear into our heart. He tells us this to remind us to be meek in His strength. To remain in control, with His help, even in those moments that seem impossible. Jesus reminds us through His example to not allow the voices in the crowd to distract us from our purpose or from the Hope we can receive in our Messiah. It is only in Jesus that we can find peace amid chaos. In this life we will have trouble, but take heart because He has overcome. I know that in the midst of a trial it can be difficult to stay your focus on your Redeemer and Lord. Jesus knows this as well. And He promises to sustain us with His joy. He tells us in the book of John:
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth (John 17:13-19 NASB95).”
Jesus gives us His Word so that we may find His joy. This is a joy that is not conditional based upon situations or circumstances. This joy is transcendent because it comes from a Risen Savior who loves us and looks over us. It is a joy in knowing that He has covered us under His wings (Psalm 91) and He keeps us in the palm of His very hand (John 10:28). The prayer of Jesus is not that we completely avoid difficulty, but that His joy would sustain us even through difficulty. From our frail human perspective, this does not even make sense. Yet we can all remember times of trial in our testimony and recognize the presence of our Messiah in the midst of the crowd alongside of us. I pray, beloved, that you remember to stay your focus on the One who can reveal hope, joy and peace that is far beyond anything that this world can comprehend. I pray that you remain meek as in the examples given through the life our Savior. Remain focused, power under control, even in the middle of difficulty.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.[1]
Our Savior has overcome! Allow His Light to be your guide in those times that seem impossibly dark. Know that He holds you in the palm of His mighty hand (Isaiah 41:10). To God be the glory! AMEN!
[1] Lemmel, Helen, H., “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”, 1922. Based on Hebrews 12:2
Corby Shuey 