Blessed Are the Gentle

"Blessed are the meek … I don’t like that word. It’s a great word, actually, if you understand it properly. But too often we think it means “weak,” or “feeble,” or “timid,” or “passive,” or “cowardly,” even. The gentle Jesus, meek and mild … the cosmic doormat. What the word does not evoke, often enough, is power under God-honoring control. With Jesus … infinite power, under this stunning love-driven control. Matthew was written in Greek, not English. And the Greek word is “praeis” … blessed are the “praeis.” And if you were to look “praies” up in a dictionary of New Testament Greek, you would find definitions like this: “gentle,” “humble,” “considerate,” … or “meek in the older favorable sense” … not the newer “wussy sense.” Gentle: Blessed by God, favored by God are the gentle. Humble: Blessed by God are the humble, because they won’t treat others God loves with disrespect. Considerate: Favored by God are the considerate, because they won’t use or abuse people because they can. So, some Bibles still translate it, “Blessed are the meek.” Others, “Blessed are those who are humble.” Others, “Blessed are the gentle.” That’s my favorite, because I think it captures what Jesus meant the most clearly." Stephen "Doc" Pattison, Teaching Pastor