ACC ~ Matthew 5 v5

IMITATING THE LORD’S MEEKNESS

CHROMATIUS: The meek are those who are gentle, humble and unassuming, simple in faith and patient in the face of every affront. Imbued with the precepts of the gospel, they imitate the meekness of the Lord, who says, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” [1] Moses found the greatest favor with God because he was meek. It was written about him: “And Moses was the meekest of all people on earth.” [2] Furthermore, we read in David’s psalm: “Be mindful, O Lord, of David and his great meekness.” [3] TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.4.1-2. [4]

[1] Mt 11:29.

[2] Num 12:3.

[3] Ps 132:1 (131:1 LXX).

[4] CCL 9a:272.

ENDURING OFFENSES

ANONYMOUS: A gentle person neither provokes evil nor is provoked by evil. Charges of sin do not prevail against such persons insofar as they are not the cause of sin. The meek one is more content to endure an offense than to commit one. For unless one is unafraid of being offended, one cannot be without sin. For even as weeds are never lacking in a field, provokers are never lacking in the world. Therefore that person is truly gentle who, when he or she has been offended, neither does evil nor even thinks of doing it. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 9. [1]

[1] PG 56:681.

A PRESENT BLESSING

CHRYSOSTOM: Tell me, what kind of earth is referred to here? Some say a figurative earth, but this is not what he is talking about. [1] For nowhere in Scripture do we find any mention of an earth that is merely figurative. But what can this Beatitude mean? Jesus holds out a prize perceptible to the senses, even as Paul also does. For even when Moses had said, “Honor your father and your mother,” he added, “For so shall you live long upon the earth.” [2] And Jesus himself says again to the thief, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” [3] Today! In this way he does not speak only of future blessings but also of present ones. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 15.3. [4]

[1] Chrysostom argues against interpretations of the earth, particularly those of Alexandrian character (Origen), which he considers excessively spiritualistic.

[2] Eph 6:2-3.

[3] Lk 23:43.

[4] PG 57:226; NPNF 1 10:93**. The blessing of the meek is not merely figurative but earthly. The meek will be blessed in this present world and in the world to come.

A PERPETUAL INHERITANCE

AUGUSTINE: “Inherit the earth,” I believe, means the land promised in the psalm: [1] “Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living.” [2] It signifies the solidity and stability of a perpetual inheritance. The soul because of its good disposition is at rest as though in its own place, like a body on the earth, and is fed with its own food there, like a body from the earth. This is the peaceful life of the saints. The meek are those who submit to wickedness and do not resist evil but overcome evil with good. [3] Let the haughty therefore quarrel and contend for earthly and temporal things. But “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land.” This is the land from which they cannot be expelled. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 1.2.4. [4]

[1] Addressed to God.

[2] Ps 142:5 (141:5 LXX).

[3] Rom 12:21.

[4] PL 34:1232; FC 11:22; NPNF 1 10:93. The land the meek shall inherit is a land from which they cannot be expelled.

ETERNAL BEINGS WILL INHERIT AN ETERNAL LAND

ANONYMOUS: The psalmist wrote, “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” [1] But some say that as long as this land is in this corrupted state, it is the land of the dead, for it is subject to the worthless and empty. But once it has been liberated from the slavery of corruption to the freedom of the glory of God’s children, it becomes the land of the living, so that immortals inherit immortality. According to another commentator, it is a sort of heaven in which the saints are about to live; hence it is called the land of the living. As to our lower region, it is earth; but as to the heaven above, it is called the land of the living. Others say that our body is on earth and as long as it is subject to death, it is the land of the dead. When the body has been transformed, however, and made to conform with the body of Christ’s glory, it will dwell in the land of the living. Eternal beings will inherit it as an eternal land, and spiritual beings and saints as a spiritual and holy land. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 9. [2]

[1] Ps 27:13 (26:13 LXX).

[2] PG 56:681-82. The land of the living that the meek will inherit is the perpetual inheritance of eternal life with God.

Mt