Stablizing Thoughts

As I was considering the prophecy and fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, a son of a beast of burden as Matthew puts it, one of the adjectives used to describe the rider was "gentle" (Greek:praus). It is best translated "meek" and used in Jesus' sermon on the mount. "The meek shall inherit the earth." (Matt.5:5) Peter uses it to describe the required demeanor of a woman married to an unbeliever, if she is to win him. She must have "a gentle and quiet spirit." The noun of the word is used in James 1:21 to describe the attitude we must have if we are going to receive the word planted in us. Those who do receive this word are wise and prove it by deeds done in the gentleness of wisdom. (1 Peter 3:13) This allows them to then given appropriate answers to those who ask for reasons for hope, an answer given in gentleness and reverence. (1 Peter 3:15)

 

Aristotle explained this word/concept as a mean between two extremes: getting angry without reason and not getting angry at all. Now this is where balance comes in. Finding such a fulcrum is truly a balancing act. If you want to know how difficult this is, as if it needed to be proven, then stand on one foot or walk a narrow board, or a tight wire if you are that brave. The struggle to maintain balance becomes immediately evident. Just as our brain, inner ear, and muscles work together to find some stabilizing force to keep us from falling over or off, so we wrestle internally with thoughts which flood into our minds when we feel unstable and threatened.

 

Here is Jesus balancing on the back of a donkey's colt, jostling about on a small untested beast of burden, one on which no man had ever rode, seeking to maintain His balance on the uneven streets of His day. But just as it may have been difficult to stay atop of this animal, what was happening in the mind of Christ, who was clearly focused on the events that would soon unfold? Surely He possessed a disturbed mind, one agitated with the circumstances surrounding Him. In fact when He arrived at the temple His meekness was tested as He observed, yet again, the money-changers and robbers who had broken into His Father's house. What is the appropriate response to a home-invader? We know what He did. But, more importantly what stabilizing thoughts guided His response?

 

Perhaps if we carefully consider Jesus in this scene we might learn how much more we need stabilizing thoughts, truths that keep us balanced and focused and free from the extremes of becoming angry for no reason and not being angry at all. One thing I have learned in my journey into Challenger Deep is that Jesus possessed a beautiful mind, one tuned perfectly and one calibrated to respond to any and all circumstances of life with just the right degree of love, justice, mercy, wisdom, and grace. He found the balance between grace and law, justice and mercy. But, it all began with the thoughts of His mind.