Category: Jesus the Gentle and Meek Savior

It is harder for a strong person to be meek in spirit than powerful in the flesh

“I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ….” (2 Corinthians 10:1, ESV)

The apostle Paul writes here of the meekness [Greek, prautes] of Christ. What does it mean that Christ is meek?

Most people, even Christians, do not want to be meek. And so meekness is probably not a quality in Christ people naturally admire and revere him for.

But we should worship Jesus for his meekness. It was through his meekness that he, though innocent in every way, allowed himself to be taken prisoner, and then for our sins undergo abuse, injustice, and torture at the hands of his enemies. He had the strength and authority to end all that oppression in a moment, but he did not end it. He endured it in infinite power and meekness.

As he stood before Pilate or Herod, he could have snapped his fingers and with a word caused the earth to open beneath them and swallow them up alive, as happened to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in the Old Testament when they challenged Moses (Numbers 16:1–33). But in his perfect self-control and restraint, he let Pilate, Herod, the religious leaders of the Sanhedrin, and Roman soldiers mock, spit upon, beat, scourge, and crucify him. That is strength. That is greatness.

As Proverbs 16:32 says, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”

Jesus said that if he wanted he could have in a moment had some 12,000 angels at his side to defend him. (Matthew 26:53) But he chose meekness in obedience to his Father’s will.

Christ’s triumphant entry

We see the meekness of Christ in another way in his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem just days before his crucifixion: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble [Greek praus, which could be translated meek, as it is in the King James version], and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” (Matthew 21:5, ESV)

In this triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus did not come riding a mighty white horse or bearing the weapons and wearing an impressive military uniform. Rather he came dressed in common clothes and riding a common donkey. He did not come commanding attention in human power. Rather he came in humility.

Meekness in the Sermon on the Mount

We see the meaning of Christ’s meekness from how he taught his disciples to be meek. In the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, which we call the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

Many of the specific rules of Jesus that follow in the Sermon on the Mount are examples of meekness. Jesus said:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles….

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:38–41, 43–45, ESV)

The word describing all these behaviors is meekness. Meekness turns the other cheek, goes the second mile, and so on.

Definitions

The English word meekness translates the Greek words prautes and praotes, meaning “mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, and meekness,” and by implication, humility (according to Strong’s Concordance).

In the “Online Bible,” Larry Pierce writes, “Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isaiah 41:17, Luke 18:1–8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Galatians 5:23).” (BlueLetterBible.org)

Moses

Meekness was a notable virtue of Moses: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3, ESV)

Jesus certainly surpassed Moses in meekness many times over. Truly meekness is a strength for which we should bow before the Son of God—who now rules and judges the universe—and worship him with humility of heart.

Moreover, we are privileged to walk in his ways: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness [or meekness; Greek prautes], self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

We do not have to be on guard with Jesus

When I was a boy, my family went to a dentist I learned to fear. He was a thickly built man, with meaty, strong hands. When he worked in my mouth filling cavities or on one or two occasions pulling a tooth, he worked with the sort of force you might imagine a car mechanic uses when turning a stubborn bolt. He pushed that needle into my gums, he pressed that drill into my tooth, or he wielded dental pliers on a stubborn molar and twisted and pulled till it gave way. His work was done forcefully and effectively; and if pain happened to me in the process, well that’s just the way it is. He got things done in my mouth with directness and dispatch. He was a healer—but a rough healer.

When you have experiences with a dentist like that, you learn to appreciate gentleness. My next dentist was the opposite of the first. He was as gentle and kind a man as you will ever know. And he redeemed dentistry in my eyes. He spoke gently. He was aware of what I was feeling. And he was clearly concerned to make the experience of healing as painless as possible.

Gentle Savior

It is good news when Jesus tells us he is gentle. He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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 light” (Matthew 11:28–30 ESV).

Gentle means not rough, harsh, or violent. Gentle means aware of the pain others might experience and trying to relieve or minimize it. When a gentle doctor must inflict pain, he seeks also to bring comfort.

Matthew 12:20 says of Jesus, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench.”

Where my family lived as I was growing up, our house was one lot away from a small wetland full of reeds and cattails. The reeds grew three to five feet in length. We played with those reeds. They had a natural stiffness to them that enabled them to grow tall and sway in the breeze without breaking, but if you bent them hard enough they could certainly break and fold over, as we discovered when we used them as whips or swords. They could also be bruised or slightly bent or dented, and weakened as a result. A bruised reed could be broken more easily. You could look out over the wetland and see the tops of thousands of reeds standing tall and elegantly curved, while others were bruised and slightly bent over, while still others were broken and fully bent over upon themselves.

Jesus was not one to walk through the wetland and take strong hold of the top of a bruised, weakened, bowed reed and snap it so that it would fully break.

A bruised reed

Luke 7 tells the story of a woman who was a bruised reed. She was bruised because of her own sin, and no doubt the sins of others against her. Luke describes her as “a woman of the city” and “a sinner.” Somehow she heard the teaching and works of Jesus and became a believer. And when she heard that Jesus had come to the home of a Pharisee in her city, it triggered in her a desire to express her love and appreciation to the one who had changed her life.

She quickly grabbed a jar of expensive ointment and went to the home of the Pharisee. The event was apparently held in something like what we might call today an open-house format, so she was able to get in and come right to the place where Jesus reclined at the table for the meal. There with overflowing emotion she wept tears that dripped on the feet of Jesus, and she wiped the tears with her hair and anointed the feet of Jesus with the ointment.

For Jesus this must have been an awkward situation. Yet he did not put an end to it, but let it go on for 5, 10, maybe 15 minutes. I base that on the words of Jesus when he admonished the Pharisee, saying, “from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet” (Luke 7:45), and on the fact that Jesus told his parable to the Pharisee as she went on with her display of gratitude. This means Jesus let her actions continue, rather than chastising her, or telling her to stop and go away.

No, he was gentle with this broken reed. He let her be and let her do. Finally after concluding his instruction of the Pharisee, he turned to the woman and said, “Your sins are forgiven…. Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:48, 50).

So Jesus was gentle with an irreligious sinner, and if you come to him as this woman did, in humility, faith, and repentance, he will be gentle with you.