Weekly Pastoral Message prepared by Rev. Murray Adamthwaite
for Sunday 25th October 1998

From the Pastor: Beatitudes and PC IV

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Matthew 5:5 "The customer is always right", used to be the standard reply of the shop assistant when any dispute arose in regard to merchandise. Alas, we have not heard that for a long time. On the contrary, whether from bureaucrats, politicians, journalists or business executives, resolute stonewalling seems to be the order of the day, even in the face of well informed objections from people well qualified and articulate in their field. What a change has come over our society that it seems so full of people who in their minds are never wrong! While not suggesting that public, and not so public, figures crumple at every criticism or allegation, there is surely room for some humility instead of the implacable defence of the (at times obviously) indefensible that we so often hear. What has been forgotten in this new mood is that One wiser than any of us declared that it is not those who insist that they are always right, but the meek who will inherit the earth. Meanwhile, for the world meekness is synonymous with weakness. For a world intoxicated with the notions of PC's obsession with "rights" has become the universal catch-cry. However, the end result of such insistence is, and can only be, a barristers' picnic. Ironically, the high-minded and implacable have not inherited the earth; only the lawyers have! The truth is that showing meekness requires considerable courage and willingness to "bite the tongue" in the face of considerable provocation and unjust treatment. Look here at the example of our Lord: His trial from start to finish was a perversion of justice, but He did not object. However, His meekness has inherited the earth: He shall rule the nations (Revelation 12:5). The meek person may be trampled on in the short term, but in the long term he will in God's providence be the victor. The sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed (Romans 8:18).