“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." - (Matthew 5:5 ESV)
Let's be honest: Who among us isn’t interested in being an heir/heiress? Who isn't interested in being the inheritor of some fabulous financial windfall? We all like to joke about what we would do if we happened to hit the power ball jackpot, and being the heir to fortune is pretty much just like winning the power ball of genetics, isn’t it? You happen to be born at a particular place and time to a particular family and, Boom: Ivy-League education, and a life of privilege on a silver platter. Consider, for a moment some of today’s most notable heirs-in-waiting:
Sam Branson: Sam’s father, Sir Richard Branson, is worth an estimated $3.8 billion and is the man behind the Virgin collection of companies such as Virgin Records, Virgin Books, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Mobile and Virgin fuels. Sam is often seen hanging with Hollywood celebutantes, modeling, and relaxing on his dad’s private 74 acre island, Necker Island.
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken: Charlene became the wealthiest woman in the Netherlands when her father, Alfred Heineken, passed away in 2003. The heiress to the premium beer from Holland is worth more than $7 billion and is currently maintaining the business’ operations.
The Ikea sons: IKEA is the world’s premier supplier of affordable home furnishings. Headed by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA is, in fact, the world’s largest furniture retailer generating around $28 Billion dollars per year in worldwide sales. Ingvar’s three sons are expected to inherit tens of billions of dollars while also sitting on the company’s executive board.
Ivanka Trump: As the daughter of Donald Trump, Ivanka stands to inherit her father’s undisclosed amount of personal wealth as well as real estate and entertainment assets. She is already the vice president of real estate development and acquisitions of the Trump Organization. Her brothers, Donald, Jr. and Eric, are also executive vice presidents of the corporation and along with Ivanka will inherit most of what “the Donald” leaves behind.
Ah, to be a Trump child…
Let’s forget for a moment the dangerously corrupting power of possessing functionally limitless material wealth. Let’s forget how we ease our own jealously with thoughts like, “Yeah, they may be fabulously wealthy, but they’re probably unhappy, miserable human beings." Let’s forget all that for a moment and just bring to mind the simple blessings that might come with a large inheritance.
My wife probably wouldn’t have plywood kitchen countertops, for starters. We hit the end of our remodeling budget for our recent move some time ago; a roof, a couple porches, some foundation repairs and a bathroom or two short of complete. Now, if Becca had been born a Trump, she could go out and order kitchen counters inlaid with antique pearls for all that I might care. Things like car repairs, medical bills, heating oil, paying for our kid’s education: None of that would even blip on the radar of concern if - as Tevye of the Fiddler on the Roof so famously put it - “I were a rich man.”
For all the ways that material wealth is deceptive and can be corrupting and fleeting, what comes to mind for most of us as we daydream about discovering that we are descendants of royalty isn’t really the lavish trappings of wealth; it’s security. We fantasize about the experience of never worrying about finances again. We imagine how freeing that would feel; how the stress would melt off of our shoulders, and how much better equipped we would feel to face all the other challenges of life, if we just didn’t have to worry about where the next paycheck was coming from. If only we were heirs to some modest fortune, life would be so much different.
Do you realize that the language of inheritance is woven throughout scripture? It’s a pretty big word in the Biblical story. And as I watch Jesus use that word here; as I watch Jesus proclaim, “Blessed are the meek, for they will INHERIT the earth.”, I can’t help but wonder what the connection is and what experience of relationship with himself Jesus is inviting us into. What is it about the “meek” - the gentle, the quiet, the easily overlooked, misunderstood and taken advantage of - what is it about meekness that connects in Jesus’ mind with the promise of inheritance?
And the answer that popped out to me as I press into this passage, and Psalm 37, and others is this: If the meek - the gentle, that Jesus refers to here - are those in the world who are either unable or unwilling to stand up and demand their own rights, if they are those who are unable or unwilling to duke it out, to fight and scrap for their piece of the pie, if the meek are those who, by nature or disposition find themselves pushed aside by those who are more aggressive, violent and naturally self-assertive in staking their claim in the world, then Jesus has a word of blessing for them; these gentle ones. And that is, apparently, that they are heirs. Which is to say that, according to Jesus, it doesn’t matter that they don’t have it in them to fight and claw their way to the top of the pile, because their inheritance - their security and future flourishing - is already secure. They can live in strength and peace, even as they are disregarded and misunderstood - or worse - because in Jesus they are freely offered a richness that no person or circumstance can threaten or take away from them.
For those in Christ, our future and lasting hope is not about the FIGHT that’s IN you, but about the FAMILY you BELONG to.
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