Lenten Reflection for March 11th

What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘gentleness’? For myself, it conjures up an image of a toddler petting, or in more cases, grasping at a cat or puppy and the parent close by urging reminders of “Be gentle! Be gentle!”. Or another memory of hymns at Christmas, singing of the infant Jesus being ‘tender and mild’. Many notions of gentleness seem to be of quietness, softness, shyness or meekness, being tentative and hesitant. Meekness even perhaps imagined as groveling in some cases. This isn’t what I’ve found to be the case with other Fruits of the Spirit, so I wanted to reflect further on what Gentleness looks like when it grows from Right Judgment.

From the Greek translation of Scripture, the word often used for ‘gentle’ is praus. In each of these cases, the word praus is used: Moses is described as ‘meek’ (Numbers 12), “The meek shall inherit the land…” (Psalm 37), Jesus refers to it during his Sermon on the Mount, ‘Blessed are the meek…’ (Matthew 5:5) also later when he says, “Take my yoke upon you…for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

We see many examples in Scripture of Jesus and his gentle care, his compassion, mercy, love for those in need of His grace, but he is never shy, nervous or tentative. In fact, there are times when he is quite the opposite, turning over the tables in the temple marketplace and driving people out with a whip of cords comes to mind. He also is not shy or groveling when He stands before Pilate before his crucifixion. Even then he speaks with confidence and dignity.

Jesus also asks much of his disciples. He knows he is sending them into persecution, to be arrested and beaten, yet he calls them to take their crosses and follow him. Yes, Jesus is gentle, but this gentleness is different from what we might have expected. This gentle meekness comes with high demands.

What we can see is that being ‘gentle’ or meek and humble doesn’t equate to lacking in confidence or dignity.  We can see how, in the right manner and at the appropriate times, we are called to pray for strength through the Spirit and act with gentleness.

When we pray for the Gift of Right Judgement or Counsel, we will have a better understanding of when, where and how to act in right ways which also show the love and care that Christ has modeled for us and calls us to share.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

When you hear the words ‘gentleness’ or ‘meek’ what comes to mind? Perhaps an image of a toddler grasping at a kitten or puppy and the parent close by urging reminders of “Be gentle! Be gentle!”. Or maybe being meek seems like someone who is trembling, nervous, shy and quiet.

The word for gentle or meek in the Bible is found several times, for example Jesus tells us ‘blessed are the meek’ (Matthew 5:5), and later also says,  “Take my yoke upon you…for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). 

We see many examples in Scripture of Jesus and his gentle care, his compassion, mercy, love for those in need of His grace, but he is never shy, nervous or tentative. Even when facing people who are angry with him and against him, he speaks with confidence, courage and still shows mercy to them.

Gentleness doesn’t mean being soft or shy, meekness doesn’t mean being nervous. It means being strong and wise in the moment we need to be. The Gift of Right Judgment will help us in understanding how to act with gentle confidence in any circumstance. 

God bless you!