Blessed Are The Mourners

requently we find ourselves interacting with a manager in some business or organization who appears to be charming at first but who is actually assertive, aggressive, and forceful. Some do not care about their employees - only themselves. We also cross paths with individuals who are kind, gentle, calm, and encouraging to their employees - sometimes sacrificing themselves. Both have authority, but one accomplishes his goals with grace and consideration for those working for him/her. The apparent kindness of some managers may not be real. It is very common today for businesses to send their managers to “charm school” in order to help them be kinder to their employees. One website recently made this statement, “Charmless [CEOs] who rely solely on positional power and expert authority for their influence are the ones left without dance partners as they try to forward their agendas” (www.cio.com). The message in this statement is simple. It is important to add charm to your personality in order to accomplish your goals.

So Many Meanings. When we come to our passage for this study, we find a statement with which some may struggle.

Jesus’ words sound like weakness and someone who is a push-over. Jesus says that if you want to inherit the earth, you must be gentle. Does that sound like the characteristics of a business manager? Does this sound like a weak individual who yields to everyone and anyone? Would this individual stand up for himself/herself? Are you gentle? What did the crowd think about this statement? They had already heard that one must be poor in spirit in order to enter the kingdom of heaven and those who mourned would be comforted. Why did Jesus say this next? What did the crowd think? What did Jesus mean?

The key to understanding Matt 5:5 hangs on the meaning of the Greek word PRAUS, which is translated as “gentle.” If you read Matthew 5:5 in your Bible, you might discover that Matt. 5:5 does not say “gentle.” The New American Standard Bible (NASB) and New Living Translation (NLT) translate PRAUS as “gentle.” But the King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV), and New International Version (NIV) translate the Greek word PRAUS as “meek” and the New Century Version (NCV) and Contemporary English Version Bible (CEV) translate PRAUS as “humble.” This has occurred because the meaning of PRAUS is hard to translate from the Greek to the English language. Some words are very difficult to translate from one language into another, and PRAUS is one of these words. So what does PRAUS mean? The answer to this question will unlock the meaning of Matthew 5:5.