‘Winning In the End’

A sermon based upon Colossians 3: 12; Luke 14:1, 7-14

By Rev. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

The Second Sunday of Easter, May 12^th, 2013

Let’s start off with a bit of comic book trivial:  Who is the ‘mild-mannered reporter from the daily planet’?  The answer of course is Clark Kent--Superman in disguise.  

When the comic books say that Clark Kent is ‘mild-mannered’ it also means that he is meek and gentle.   In fact, the word ‘meek’ comes from an old Scandinavian word, mjukr, which mean ‘soft.’  In the German language, which often builds words out of word pictures, the word for ‘meek’ is “sanftmut’, which is literally, ‘soft courage’.   So, even though Clark Kent is really the ‘man of steel’, he appears in daily life as a very meek, mild, gentle, softly courageous person who couldn’t hurt a fly.   But we know differently. That’s part of what makes the ‘myth’ of superman interesting.  He’s meek, but when you least expect it, he can be strong-really strong, even invincible.   When the late Christopher Reeves played Superman, he portrayed Clark Kent not just as weak, but also as clumsy and awkward---to make it even more fun.   Reeves Clark Kent is maybe too meek, but he’s anything but weak. 

MEEK DOES NOT MEAN WEAK

The ‘fictional’ Superman is a good visual to remind us that when the apostle Paul calls for Christians to ‘put on’ the virtue of ‘meekness’, he does not mean ‘weakness’.   Maybe it will help you to know that the English word ‘meek’ comes from directly out of an Old Norse word meaning gentle or soft.   The Norsemen were the Vikings and they were anything but weak.  Did the English pull ‘meek’ from Old Norse as Wishful thinking?

Our Bible passage from the gospel of Luke contains another picture of meekness, humility, modesty or patience.   In this story, religious leaders are ‘watching’ Jesus very closely.  Since Jesus appears to have true wisdom which they cannot discredit, these leaders want to try to trip him up by finding a flaw in his character.   But ironically, as these leaders watch Jesus, we see that Jesus was also watching them.  Jesus notices how most of the guests want to sit at the ‘place of honor’, or at the ‘head table.’   Seeing this, Jesus tells them all a story about a very smart fellow who was invited to partake in a wedding feast and wisely chose not to sit at the ‘head table’.  If you sit at the ‘head table’ and someone is more-distinguished that you comes in, then you will be terribly embarrassed.   But if you take a back seat, and then the host invites you to move to the head table, then you will be greatly honored.   Jesus then gives the punch line:  “All who exalt themselves will be humbled; but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” 

According to Jesus ‘meekness’ has much more to do with humility, cleverness and patience, than it does with weakness.  Meekness does not mean that you are unable to sit down where you want, but it means that you are willing to wait on someone else to point out just how important, how honored, and how significant, strong and powerful you really are.   When you are ‘meek’ you prove just how strong you really are.   In ‘waiting’ on someone to discover you prove just how much self-control, self-discipline and real strength you have.   When you are humble, gentle, kind and meek you patiently wait for God to reveal your true identity, which is, for now, as Paul says, is ‘hidden’ in Jesus Christ, who one day will also be ‘revealed’.  Meek does not mean weak, but it means waiting for the appropriate moment for the truth to be revealed.

My parents taught me not to fight back at bullies in school, but they did not want me to be weak.   I think I’ve told you about the time when I was in the 7^th grade, the girl behind me dropped her pencil on the floor and could not reach it, so I got bent down to pick it up under a desk.   A very aggressive, and perhaps jealous fellow, jump on my back and attempted to strangle me.   I could not get him loose quickly enough and it almost caused me to pass out.  Afterwards, he laughed and I did not like what he did.  I did not go home and tell my parents, but I went and told my friend and saved my allowance and bought a book on Judo, which we practiced together.  Several months later, when that bully jumped me again, he was in for the ‘revelation’ of his life.   When he jumped on my back, I made a successful defensive move, and this time he was the one lying on the floor.  I put him in his place and didn’t even have to lift a finger.   I learned a few defensive moves, gain in strength and prepared myself, and simply waited for the opportunity.  It was the last time he ever jumped me.  I was still meek, but now he knew for sure, meek does not mean weak.

I’m not recommending you challenge all bullies this way, but I am trying to illustrate what meekness means.   The late New Testament scholar William Barclay was well studied in classical Greek.  He once explained how Aristotle taught that ‘great virtues’ lie between two extremes.   For example, he said, ‘gentleness lies between excessive anger and excessive passive indifference.’  The person who is meek is a person who is able to keep their composure.   The one who is praus, (gentle and meek) is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time   (See N.T. Words, by William Barclay, p 241).   As an example, Jesus did get angry about some things.  He did overturn the money-changers tables in the temple.  He did call the Pharisees a bunch of ‘dead heads’ or literally, ‘white-washed tombstones’.  He really did call Herod, ‘that ole fox’ and he named his misinformed disciples ‘Satan’, and also told corrupt leaders that their daddy was the devil.  When you think of Jesus as ‘meek and mild’ and also lowly of heart, don’t ever mistake his meekness for weakness.  

MEEKNESS IS ABOUT TRUE POWER

What meekness is really about is ‘true power’.   Again, in Jesus’ story about the dinner party, and calling for guest to wait on the host to seat them, Jesus is not negating the place  of ‘power’ or ‘honor’, but Jesus is revealing where the real power and the true honor lies.   When the person humbles themselves and takes the back seat, they will now be moved to the ‘first seat’, near the central seat of power in the room so that everyone comes to recognize them and their position.

The ‘movement’ that takes place in this parable is important to visualize.   Recall in the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says “Blessed are the Meek, for they will inherit the earth”.   Here also, there is also a movement from the back side of life to the front side; from being a nobody, to being a somebody, do you see it?   The person who ‘inherits the earth’ is anything but powerless—as they are now in waiting, contented with the back seat in this current moment of life, waiting to claim ownership of what is rightfully theirs.  And what is rightfully theirs is not only going to be revealed in heaven, but it will be revealed in the coming, which is connected to this world of the here and now.  The meek will inherit THE EARTH, which is nothing less than THIS EARTH.   Because they are, and will continue to be ‘blessed’ by the eternal God, they will be given an enduring and eternal claim to possess the world and rule with Christ.  St. Augustine rightly expressed it this way: “You who wish to possess the earth right now, take care; If you are meek, you will possess it, but if you are ruthless, the world will possess you.”  

If ‘meekness’ is true power, what does it mean to have this power?   An illustration comes from my high school days and my two school friends, the Chamber’s brothers, Terry and Michael.  Terry was a freshman, like me, but Michael was a senior.  He was big, and strong, an undefeated wrestler, but not the smartest.  Michael grew up on hard work at the saw mill, not with books and smart moves.  Once, during his final year of wrestling, a very smart wrestler got Michael down on the mat.   We all thought Michael’s undefeated season had come to an end.  He was put on his back with a half-nelson.  There was practically no way to escape, you could only attempt to keep yourself from getting pinned.  But as we all cheered on, that strong, gritty, young man did the impossible.  He used the strength of his body to push himself up and broke the hold that was put on him.  Michael’s strength saved him that day.  It was hidden until he needed it.  Then all that off-bearing, all that sweat, and all that pushing his muscles beyond their limit each and every day came into play.  Michael was quiet, humble, meek, unassuming, and now, he was also UNDEFEATED.

What enabled Michael to win was not his clever wrestling skills, but it was his true strength.  It was this true strength---raw but real, which pulled him out of the worst situation.    In the same way, it is our true strength which can also pull us out of the worst of situations.  You cannot train, prepare, or plan on everything that will happen to you, but you can be faithful to everyday, work hard, and then, when the worst day comes, you overcome with your true power and true strength of faithfulness, humility and grace.  You don’t have to prove yourself, because you have proven yourself by how you live each and every day.   You remain meek, but not weak, because you have all the strength you will ever need to pull you through.

I think I told you about how I once lost my meekness, and it nearly cost me.  I was being sued for $52 thousand dollars for an accident my wife was involved in, which had been ruled  no-fault.  In spite of that, the other party sued us for damages.   When they put me on the stand, I lost my meekness and became angry at the attorney’s attempt to twist my words.  After the trial was over, it was called a hung jury because they figured that a preacher should not display his anger in court.  If only I had kept my composure, I would have won, but now it the whole ordeal was to be retried.  Fortunately, now that the evidence was out there, the other party became content to settle out of court.   If had only known the true ‘power’ meekness has.    As the Daily Study Bible puts it: “Oh the bliss of the person who is always angry at the right time, never angry at the wrong time, who has every instinct, and impulse, and passion under control because they are God-controlled, who has the humility to realize their own ignorance and their own weakness, for such person is King among all!” (As quoted in “Beatitudes” by Ronald Lello, Element Press, p 37).

MEEKNESS COMES WITH FULL SURRENDER

Consider the central part of this quote from the Study Bible; ‘who has every instinct, impulse and passion under control because they are God controlled….”   The key to meekness is that a person is ‘under control’ and not ‘out of control’ because they have given ‘full control’ of their life to God.

Think about what makes Jesus’ special.  Really, there was nothing that special about Jesus.  He never made front page news in the ancient world.  Even the Bible tells us so.  Remember what Isaiah said about the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53?  The Jerusalem Bible translates: “He had no form or charm to attract us, no beauty to win our hearts; he was despised, the lowest of men, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering, one from whom as it were, we averted our gaze, despised, for whom we had no regard.  Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying while we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed because of our guilt.” ( “Also from “Beatitudes” p. 40-41).  

What made Jesus most notable was that as a human being he was a fully surrendered to God.   This is why we are called to be like him too.   Jesus’ mark on the world is the trait we all are and will be called to emulate: surrender—full surrender, surrender of anything, everything, and of especially, our ‘own thing” to God.   As George Eliot once said, “When death, that great Reconciler comes, it is never our tenderness we repent of, but it is our severity”.    It is our holding on that prevents us from entering God’s joy; and it is the letting go and full surrender to God that is the gate to the greatest peace, warmest grace and the sweetest happiness.  The songwriter poet John Denver once got a glimpse of it and called it “Sweet Surrender” in his song about life.  Other singers, like Sarah McLachlan, still sing about it as ‘sweet’.  But what is so ‘sweet’ about surrender?  What is so sweet about surrendering your anger, your rights, and everything in your life to God? How can THAT be ‘sweet’? 

The sweetness of surrender is on display at the conclusion of Jesus’ story.   Like those religious leaders in Jesus’ day, we too might see ‘meekness’ as weakness or as a great negative because it is recommended that we surrender our place of honor, privilege, or hold on to some power which is rightfully ours.  We might see this meekness as weakness, because we it looks like surrendering and submitting to the power of others, who will in turn, possibly run all over us.  That is certainly not sweet, and it is not what Jesus envisions.  In this story, the best seat in the house is not taken away from the one who deserves it, but it is fully and finally given by the host, the master, and this lord who truly has the power to give it so it can never be taken away by anyone.  “How sweet is,” as Jackie Gleason used to say, when this one who takes the back seat is now acknowledged and waits for the master of ceremonies to call his name, right in front of all the others, and say, as Jesus suggests, 'Friend, move up higher'; you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you (Luke 14:10 NRS).

When I was a child, I attended church a lot.  I heard a lot of sermons and stories.  I remember very few of them.  But there is one story that hasn’t ever left me.  It was the story that came out of the days of ocean liners, when people traveled slowly across the ocean by ship.  One person coming into harbor on this ship was a missionary, who had spent his life working among the poor, the forgotten, and the unnoticed.  He had spent his entire life overseas and was finally coming home.  Having written letters to his family and his church, he wondered who would be there to greet him when he came home.  As he neared the port, thousands of people were on the shore cheering.  As he first heard the great celebration, with flags waving and the band playing, he could not help but wonder, even hope, it was for him.   But as he came closer, his fantasy was foiled by the reality.  Also on board this ship, but kept secret and unknown to him, was the president of the United States.   Now it became clear.  All the cheers, the praise, the celebration and honor was for the President.  But before his heart sunk, he remembered one important point.   Then, this missionary realized, that it was not yet his time to be honored, for he was truly not home yet.   

Meekness always remembers we are not home yet.    The time of recognition has not yet come.  But the sweetness of all that has been surrendered to God is still to be revealed when the master of all ceremonies finally says, “Friend, move up higher….you will be honored in the presence….”    In this story that belongs to God, the best is always saved for last.  And in our life with God, in humility and meekness, the best is yet to come.   We have not yet arrived, but we are still on the journey, and the value of our surrender will be fully realized or revealed when all truth is revealed.    Because of what is still to come, meek is not weak, but it is true power.   By putting on the clothes of meekness, we still have something to believe in, something to wait for, and something to hope in.  Now, being meek may still be painful at times,  but in time, like the best wine Jesus saved for the last in Cana, all that we have surrendered to God will become the sweetest of sweet.  Amen.  

© 2013 All rights reserved Charles J. Tomlin, B.A., M.Div. D.Min