On Being Called Beta

And I don't mean a test product or a fighting fish

Don’t mean this ^^^ Beta, either.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5, in the lessons for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany)

Definitely hard days to be meek. Unhinged, vulgar and violent are apt descriptions of our common life, with supposedly civilizing institutions like government, academia, education, health care and religion brimming with toxic words and deeds. Social media, “news” outlets, and entertainment spew the toxins 24/7/365.

I have an antagonist who derides me as beta. It’s an insult — heck, fighting words, to be honest — intended to get me on the wrong side of this Sunday’s Psalm, which teaches people of faith to

Refrain from wrath, and let go of anger; fret not yourself, lest you be moved to do evil. (37:8)

Meekness, in the New Testament, describes humility and gentleness. It is not about a lack of conviction or strength, but a reliance on God that precludes forcing one’s agenda on others. In Matthew 11:29 Jesus describes himself as meek (in the King James Bible and some other translations), while other versions translate the word as gentle.

In the Old Testament, the word translated as meek does carry the sense of being afflicted or poor; humbled as well as humble. But again, it is not beta — no less than Moses is described as meek (some translations prefer humble).

The meek of the Bible, if we are to take Moses and Jesus as exemplars, are anything but weaklings. They are resolute in seeking God’s will rather than asserting their own.

Jesus’ proclamation that the meek will inherit the earth was not new. Centuries before he preached to his disciples, God’s people were hearing it in Psalm 37,

For evildoers shall be rooted out, but those who wait patiently for the Lord, they shall inherit the land. Yet a little while, and the ungodly shall be clean gone; you shall look for their place, and they shall not be there. But the meek-spirited shall possess the land and shall be refreshed with an abundance of peace.

The violent run roughshod over the world in their seasons, but eventually destroy themselves in their insatiable need for self-assertion. The meek abide, clinging to the promises of God, resisting evil with good, but even willing to suffer and endure wrong rather than join the evil.

The Prophet Micah is heard this Sunday as well, delivering what would seem to be a simple formula for living meekly on God’s earth,

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (6:8)

Sadly, many churches have reduced this to, Claim justice! Don’t let anybody humble you and kindness is for those who are entitled to it. There ain’t much room for the meek once the church becomes a chaplaincy to political ideology.

Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (also read this Sunday) admits the impracticality of meekness in the world’s eyes,

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom… (1:22)

and contrasts these assertions of power with the meekness of God on the cross:

…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1:23-25)

May the Lord strengthen us for meekness — to live with humility, gentleness and Biblical justice, overcoming evil with good in the name of Christ Jesus.

And should we be dubbed betas and goaded to join in madness, may we hear the Lord’s blessing through the noise of the curses,

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)