Mat. 5:5-6 ... "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."
In the previous essay in this series, we saw that, in the Beatitudes with which Jesus introduced the Sermon on the Mount, He revealed two essential components of Christian character, humility and sorrowful. The latter is not the common sorrow for life's adversities, but sorrow for the presence of sin that does such enormous damage in human life. In this essay, we shall consider another essential trait of true character. It is presented in the third Beatitude, ""Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth." In its noun form, the term is gentleness. Its presence in a man makes him a gentleman; and in a woman it makes her a lady. In English, the true meaning of these terms has been mostly abandoned. But in previous generations they were generally understood to refer to the excellence of an individual's character.
In today's culture, "gentleman" means little more than adult male. It then includes undeserving men who are rude, rough, and bullyish. Likewise, a woman can be trashy, uncouth, and slutty, and still be covered by the word "lady." There are many men these days who are not gentlemen, and a large set of women who are not ladies. In my own working vocabulary, I am careful not to apply these honorable terms to people whom I do not perceive to deserve them. In fact, it seems that the prevailing view of what constitutes real manhood has morphed into this image: A real man is an aggressive competitor, who comes in first in any context no matter what, an obvious "macho." Likewise, girls are no longer trained to be ladies; it is rather the goal to enable them to project as far as possible into the male world as they can go. That is, "If a man can do it, so can a woman!"
A gentleman is a man who is gentle, for that is the original, basic meaning of the word. He will show tender feelings of kindness, compassion, and grace to all about him. He will not be embarrassed to shed tears in a somber setting, or to hold and comfort a baby, or sit with those who are sick, weak, and lonely. Most of the men I know feel very uncomfortable in this role, because they have been con-ditioned to accept the worldly concept of manhood, not the Christian concept. When a man does dare to assume such a role, it can become somewhat senational. Recall, e.g., the iconic photo of the fireman carrying in his arms the small child who survived the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City on 19 April 1995. That is the picture of a true gentleman!
