Exactly who will inherit the Earth?

BY ANTHONY CASTLE

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5

I find myself on a street corner from time to time. It sits between an op shop and a fast-food joint. It’s not far from the train station, on the wrong side of the tracks, and near a crossroads. To the east sits the prettier suburban sprawl, to the west the factories and warehouses.

Traffic pours past. Only some stop there.

I go to donate the overflow of stuff from our house and watch the people come and go – students, migrant families, barefoot children. Some will come to sit out the front, asking for change. Young couples with prams eat fast food on the curb.

Most people don’t find themselves here. Not everyone. Certainly not the people who live to the east. The people who come here need things. Cheap things. Things that are quick, or feel good. It’s Christmas, after all.

I notice the things people have; used stuffed toys, burgers in wrappers, a puddle of coins in someone’s lap. I find myself in this strange, ugly place and a phrase comes to mind; the meek will inherit the earth.

I don’t know what to make of meekness. When we speak of someone being meek, we often just mean quiet. There are other qualities to the word, shy or passive perhaps. There’s something about it catches that in my mind, something dissatisfying about it.

The idea that the meek will inherit the earth originates in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ declares blessings over the poor, over those who mourn, who are kind, who want to do the right thing, who try to make peace. Most would consider these traits valuable, but we don’t always see meekness in the same way. The word isn’t used as a compliment.

 I don’t know what to make of meekness.

Scripture speaks of meekness often, attaching its meaning to suffering (Ephesians 4:2, Colossians 3:12), gentleness (1 Corinthians 4:21, 2 Corinthians 10:1, Titus 3:2), or with compliance (Titus 3:1-2). Some interpret meekness as being easy to control, submissive, even in the face of mistreatment. For many, to be meek is to be weak.

An unequal world

It seems strange to think that the quiet and compliant would inherit much of anything in today’s world. Inheritance is increasingly a privilege. Wealthier households receive larger inheritances, poorer households receive less, and inequality grows.

In fact, wealth inequality has never been worse. It is estimated that $3.5 trillion in assets will be transferred by inheritance in Australia by 2050. There are concerns that inheritance may be the only way to guarantee financial security or housing, creating a class system known as ‘inheritocracy’. We might hear that ‘the meek will inherit the earth’, but more and more it feels as it the world is already taken, and it isn’t being given to those on that street corner.

I think of the cheap things those people received - burgers, spare change. Those people are on welfare, needing visa permanency, needing secure housing and proper work, some way to raise their kids. In a world where 91 people have become billionaires through inheritance in the last year alone, being quiet and compliant may not be enough.

Some may say the inheritance Jesus speaks of is in heaven or believe that it will be established by some future divine rule. Some have consequently told the poor to be accepting of this, told the oppressed to be obedient on earth. For an inheritance to be passed down, something must die. It is almost as if some expect the meek to die before having their needs met, and to be quiet about it as they do.

The whole narrative of Scripture doesn’t reflect this. Some may interpret meek as quiet and compliant, but the word is also interchangeable with the poor and afflicted in Scripture (Job 24:4, Psalm 22:6, Luke 4:18). The word can refer to those living with illness, in poverty, on the margins. God wants equity, prosperity, and justice for these people, for the meek (Isaiah 11:4, Psalm 37:11). We are instructed to defend these people right now (Psalm 82:3).

In a world where 91 people have become billionaires through inheritance in the last year alone, being quiet and compliant may not be enough.

Society is at a crossroads. Some are inheriting everything while more and more are finding themselves with little. Perhaps it is this version of the world that needs to die for an inheritance to come, these systems and structures that create inequality and injustice.

I don’t quite know what to make of meekness, but Jesus offers a better way to make the world. That street corner is a reminder of this: those students, workers, migrants, the disabled, and those on the poverty line. They should be blessed, not just with soft toys and fast food, but equity and justice; things they really need.

It’s Christmas, after all.