This is the first verse of one of the best-known of all children's hymns. I was surprised when I first learnt that it was written by the greatest English hymnwriter, Charles Wesley (1707-1788), responsible for such masterpieces as Christ the Lord is risen today; Love divine, all loves excelling; Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing; Jesus, lover of my soul; Soldiers of Christ, Arise; Hark, the herald angels sing - and the little matter of about six thousand other hymns.

Wesley's was an awe-inspiring achievement and the church owes him an enormous debt. However, in this one instance I think a hymn of his may have done more harm than good. It is just two words which I believe have been responsible for this: "meek" and "mild". For surely, nobody was ever more inaccurately described.

It is, of course, probably true that the precise meaning of these adjectives has changed since the hymn was written. This, obviously, is something that regularly happens with words¹, and that is has occurred in the case of "meek" is suggested by the New English Bible's replacing it in Matthew 5: 5 by the phrase "those of a gentle spirit". It is difficult, though, to tell exactly how "meek" and "mild" would originally have been interpreted. Dictionary definitions of the former include "courteous; kind; piously humble and submissive; patient and unresentful under injury and reproach; free from haughtiness and self-will; indulgent; deficient in spirit and courage"; and "ready to do what other people say".

"Mild" is variously defined as "gentle and conciliatory; feeble; lacking in energy or vivacity".

Now some of these are obviously wonderful qualities. Gentle, kind, patient, unresentful, free from haughtiness - Jesus was all these things and if they are what Wesley had in mind when he wrote the hymn and he knew that this is how the words would be understood in his day, then he cannot be faulted for using them.

I would suggest, though, that for a very long time, certainly throughout the 20th century, it is the more negative of these characteristics which have come to the mind of most people when they hear the words "meek and mild". The former especially evokes an image of a diffident, timid person, one who keeps himself in the background and who in the proverbial phrase wouldn't say boo to a goose. In more modern parlance, "a wimp".

So my criticism is directed at those who over many years have not taken account of the different shades of meaning which were being conveyed by the words: hymn publishers who have continued to include Gentle Jesus in their collections, and those clergy, Sunday school superintendents and others who have gone on using it in their services - anyone, in fact, who has been responsible for children having to sing about a Jesus who was submissive, conciliatory, indulgent, lacking in energy and ready to do what other people said. And while the hymn may not be as popular as it was once was, it is still sung; more importantly, the idea it expresses has become deeply embedded in much of the church and has been repeated in numerous other children's hymns. Yet such a total distortion of the truth may well have put many children off Jesus for life - because this is certainly not the sort of character who will be admired by boys and nor I suspect by many girls either.

As a child myself I was fortunate to hear the actual gospel stories at home. But if all I had known about Jesus had been gleaned from this hymn I would not have been at all impressed. Children admire tough, brave men, men of action, men who stand up to the forces of evil, who risk their lives to defend the right. From Robin Hood to Indiana Jones, these are the heroes.

And this is just what Jesus was - a man of incredible bravery and strength.

It took great courage merely to criticise the scribes and Pharisees. The former were the lawyers, or interpreters of the law. The Pharisees were the dominant religious group within Judaism, had the support of many ordinary people and were strongly represented in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish "parliament". So they had great influence - and were able to put pressure on the Roman governor. In that society the common people normally didn't question the ruling classes, especially in religious matters. They were expected to do - and believe - what they were told. Yet Jesus repeatedly tears into these powerful groups, excoriating them with biting anger and contempt.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!... you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte [convert] and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child as hell as yourselves...You blind fools!.. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy... You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you escape being sentenced to hell? (Extracted from Matthew 23.)

The meek and the mild don't stand up to the ruthless and powerful in this way, refer to a corrupt king publicly as "that fox", or repeatedly contradict the orthodox, politically correct teaching of the time, as Jesus does: "You have heard that it was said... But I say to you..." (Mt. 5: 22, 27, 32, 34, 39, 43)

The meek and the mild do not demand high standards from people, letting them know in no uncertain terms when they fall short, saying to their closest associates "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?" (Luke 9: 41)

The meek and mild don't claim total commitment from their followers or give short shrift to those whose support they see as half-hearted. They don't demand that their own work take absolute precedence over everything else - even a father's funeral. They don't say that if you don't drop everything instantly and follow them - not even saying good-bye to your family - then you're not fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9: 59-62)

The meek and mild don't say things like: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother... He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (Mt 10: 34-39)

And while it is too long to quote, let anyone still under the misapprehension that Jesus was meek and mild read Matthew 25: 31-46, when he describes how at the end of time he will judge the world². The passage is, frankly, spine-chilling.

All this required tremendous moral courage. But Jesus' physical courage was even greater. Read how he made a whip, entered the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers (loan sharks would be the closest modern equivalent) and drove them and the rich cattle dealers out (John 2: 14-16). If you want to get some idea of the courage that took, imagine yourself going down to any street market and overturning just one trader's stall.

But that was nothing to what was going to happen.

You do not have to believe that Jesus had supernatural powers to see that he must have known that his words and actions over three years, in such a society, would inevitably lead to his death - just as attacking the Nazis in Hitler's Germany, or the Communists in Stalin's Russia would have done. Yet he refused to be silenced. Even after his arrest and so-called trial, he could have recanted, apologised, promised to behave in the future, and would very likely have been spared. (Pilate certainly had no wish to execute him, and would have welcomed any excuse not to.) But Jesus never flinched, never compromised, and in the greatest act of selfless courage the world has ever seen, went voluntarily to the agonising death of crucifixion.

And that was only the beginning of a story still unfolding.

If only Wesley had written "Gentle Jesus, strong and brave" how much more accurate it would have been and what a difference the hymn's effect might have been. I admit I don't know what word he would have found to rhyme with brave (or strong) - but then, I'm not a great poet.

1. A good example of this comes in the third verse of the hymn, where Wesley refers to Jesus as "pitiful" - meaning "merciful" or "compassionate". These days, to call someone pitiful would be an insult, meaning "hopelessly inadequate", as in phrases such as "a pitiful excuse for a man".

2. You can read the Bible on line can do so by visiting Bible on the Web.com. This site has a splendid search engine, which will locate any passage, text, or single word within seconds.

Source: http://www.jamesanderson-writer.co.uk/distortion-of-the-truth.html