In my current culture, many people calling themselves “Evangelical
Christians” are grasping for power and exaltation in the form of political
control through secular, civil authorities.
They demand that the civil authorities protect “their rights.” On the civil side, it sometimes appears they
want to elevate themselves over the constitutional rights of those with different
beliefs. On the biblical side, there is
no manifesto of Christian “rights.”
(Such behavior, of course, is the opposite of the nature of the Kingdom
of God.)
Jesus’ response to civil authorities was, as Philip explains to the Ethiopian, to
be “led like a sheep to the slaughter…in humiliation he was deprived of justice”
(Act 8:31-34, quoting Isa 53:7-8). Jesus
refused to rely on his own access to divine power to protect his rights: “Do
you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal
more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mat 26:53 NIV).
This same Jesus proclaims that “blessed” (makarios1) people are “the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the meek (praus2)… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… the merciful… the pure in heart… the peacemakers… and the persecuted” (Matt 5:1-12). Such people are the opposite of the worldly powerful and exalted.
Jesus describes the Beatitude people further as “salt” and “light” (Matt 5:13-16). Both salt and light work their wonders of preserving and illuminating without force, without taking control, but by being who they are called to be. Salt and light serve for the good of others. When Jesus’ people act as salt and light, they produce “good deeds” that result in people praising God (vs 16).
Lord Jesus, I give any “rights” that I think I might have to
you. Help motivate me to serve people by
being salt and light to them. Amen.
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1. I have a hypothesis
that I sometime want to explore about makarios. The Greek is a translation of the Hebrew ʾshry,
both of which are translated as either “blessed” or “happy.” But the Hebrew term seems to come from the
word ʾshr which can have the sense of “going straight,”
is used frequently in wisdom sayings, and where the verb form is found in Pro
9:6 is about going in the way of understanding.
My hypothesis is that both the Hebrew and Greek have the sense of “going
in the right (godly) way.”
2. Important to this
point is the term for “meek” (praus)
in Matt 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Too many Christian Internet sites want to claim,
without citing support, that that “meek” is a quality of a strong, mighty,
warhorse that is under control. (See the
discussion debunking this notion by Marg Mowczko, “The Greek Word 'Praus' and
Meek Warhorses” at https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1176/pg1176-images.html)
The sense if the term is “gentle/mild.” Moreover, Jesus appears to be quoting Psalm
37:11, “But the meek (Hebrew ʽnw) will inherit the
land” (NIV). The Hebrew equivalent for
Greek praus-related words are words
that come from the Hebrew root ‘nh,
the action of bowing down. The noun form
in Ps 37:11 carries the notion of being humble.
A related noun ‘ny in Zech 9:9 describes the Messiah: "...
See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly (‘ny) and
riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (NIV). If, as it seems likely, Greek praus is
being used for Hebrew ‘nw by Jewish NT authors, then the idea of
meekness describes someone who is humble/lowly before God and others. As with the rest of the Beatitude qualities,
it is contrary to exalting oneself over others.
