Daft, raft, deft, left, gift, lift, loft, soft – eight words concluding with “ft.” Who would have guessed the awkward combination of “f” and “t” would so “oft” find harmony, reality? What a language!
Let’s focus on “soft.” “Soft” is Old English meaning: “gentle, mild-natured; calm; luxurious.” There are wide applications with:
- materials: “not stiff, not coarse, fine; yielding to weight,”
- water: “relatively free from mineral salts,”
- sounds: “quiet, not loud,”
- words: “mild; courteous,”
- cowardice: “feeble, lacking courage,”
- compassion: “easily moved or swayed.”
Then there are: “soft drinks,” “soft rock,” and the “soft sell.” Finally, the darling of those who want to hide their age – “soft focus” lenses. “Soft” – what a word!
Applying “Soft” to People
In contrast to cowardly softness, can “soft” apply in a positive way to us? Would you call a Montana woman soft? And, when would you call a Montana man “soft” – especially if he was from Butte?
Can we stretch our frame of reference by considering Christ? No coward, his calloused carpenter hands were tough. He grew up in a rough and tumble Nazareth. But, a word related to “soft’ – “meek” describes him. What?
As English-speaking people, we make the rhyming leap from “meek” to “weak.” “We can assume “meek” must be “weak.” Isn’t “mild” also the frequent companion of “meek?” Then we subconsciously rest our case. Let’s reject such false connections.
Finding Help in Greek
Alexander the Great tamed a mighty stallion, Bucephalus. Again and again, this steed proved worthy in battle. But, as I recall, he is described by the Greek word for “meek” – “praeis.” His meekness enabled him to tame his powerful energy according to his master’s will. So, “meekness” is capable of VIGOR – the kind of engagement Jesus told us would characterize those who inherit the earth – the meek! (Mt. 5:5)
Finding Help from Volf
Growing up in war-torn Croatia, Volf (1960 -) tested meekness. Now, a prof at Princeton, he’s given much thought to the meekness highlighted in the New Testament. Volf calls “meekness” “soft difference.”
Ponder “soft difference.” Remember, we observed the awkward combination of “f” and “t” oft find harmony and reality. Similarly, combining “soft” and “difference” is not terminally awkward. Unruffled by insults, trusting God to be God, let’s live putting our hands in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus. His hands are steel (real differences) in a velvet glove (relational softness).
Pondering the Trinity
Let’s magnify “soft differences” by considering the mysterious Trinity. For years, I assumed the Father, the Son, and Spirit were similar. But, when the Bible describes our first parents as “one,” the Trinity wants us to understand that each of them is at least as different as a man is from a woman. And the generational differences we often struggle with are named in the Father and the Son. Aha. Each person of the Trinity has IDENTITY. AND STILL, the LOVE of GOD UNITES them profoundly. Mystery!
However, followers of a monotheistic God suffer from a lack of diversity. Although unity is their greatest good, our world’s brokenness propels monotheists toward uniformity. So, in public, many Muslim women wear a uniform – the hijab and the jilbab – the appearance of unity. Under Islam, an infidel (kafir) is considered unclean – excluded. Unity is ALL. Among other overzealous unifiers are those who reject the “theist” of “monotheist” but focus on the monocular vision of liberal or conservative political correctness.
On the other side are those who suffer from a lack of unity. For Hindus, with more than a million gods, what basis is there for unity? We call the absence of a Center by other names too: in Montana – rugged individualism, in academia – postmodern thought. So the university becomes a multiversity. And consider Romanticism. Rosario Butterflied writes: “Romanticism claimed that you know truth through the lens of your personal experience, and that no overriding or objective opposition can challenge the primal wisdom of your subjective frame of intelligibility – the most reliable means of discerning truth” (“Openness Unhindered”).
Although our brokenness hinders our radical differences and radical softness and gives us false substitutes, still, made in the image of the Triune God, we need diversity AND unity. Practical implications are everywhere. For example, “To be a Christian means to live one’s own identity in the face of others in such a way that one joins inseparably the belief in the truth of one’s own convictions with respect for the convictions of others. To give up the softness of our difference would be to sacrifice our identity as followers of Jesus Christ” (Steven Dilla).
Settling on Jesus
Christian, Jesus makes our identity explicit in Mt. 11:29 – “Learn from me, for I am gentle (praeis) and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Tellingly, his triumphal entry highlights his meekness. Mt 21:5 – “Behold, your king, humble (praeis), and mounted on a donkey.” What has been broken – real softness and real differences – Jesus can restore.
Peter describes Christ’s Spirit working in Jesus’ followers.1 Peter 3:4 – “The imperishable beauty of a gentle (praeos) and quiet spirit…in God’s sight is very ‘precious'”- “polytelos” – “poly” – “many” + “telos” – “maturity.” In looking at the “many” options of life, the “mature” demonstrate what pleases the Audience of One – “praeos.”
Thundering prophets fill the Bible – contenders for the faith – particularly when they spoke to people of faith. Each of their accessible stories is like lightning sitting for a portrait. Without neglecting them, we also rest our souls in the Gentle God/Man who on the cross waged WAR against evil so he could WELCOME different folks like us home. Christian and those who will follow Christ, may God use the “soft differences” formed in us by Christ to enable others to hear his “Welcome home.”
