Name: Gentle and Lowly
Rating: 3.9 (220 reviews)
Author: Dane Ortlund

What’s in it for me? Patience, compassion, and faithfulness.

Do you ever wonder what the heart of Jesus is like? Whether he’s wrathful and punishing, for instance, or if his heart expansive and understanding? Is he a titanically terrifying sovereign, or a kindly friend whose embrace is a place of nourishment and rest?

For those who are weary and in dire need of rest, for those who are bereaved and in need of comfort, for those who have failed, sinned, and feel laden with stress, this Blink is for you to learn more about how, and how much, God cares and gives strength, mercy, and graceful rest.

We are not the first or the wisest to read the Bible and extrapolate who God and Jesus are. Among the readers, thinkers, and teachers of Christ were the Puritans of 1600s England, whose interpretations of God’s source text reflect on the nature of Jesus with particular acuity and insight.

This Blink will integrate biblical scriptures from prophets such as Jeremiah and Isaiah, apostles Peter, Paul, and John, together with the interpretations of Puritan theologians, to consider the heart of God. The guiding question is a consideration of who he is. Here, we approach this inquiry as we would a multifaceted jewel — unable to be distilled into a singular angle, our reading analyzes his heart from variegated points of view.

What’s in his heart?

Over the course of the eighty-nine chapters that comprise Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Bible recounts in detail the elements of Jesus’s birth, his teaching and ministry, his travels and habits, his followers, his arrest, his death, and his resurrection. Yet astonishingly, we’re given only one scripture that describes his heart.

Think about it like this: you’re describing the wonderful woman or man you’ve married to a friend. You tell them about their eating habits, their day-to-day routine, what they do for work, and his birthplace and family. But would you really be describing your partner’s soul by doing so?

Let’s take a look at what we’re given, then, to describe the heart of Jesus. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28–30)

What this says is that Jesus’s heart is not reactive, finger-pointing, or harsh, but rather, humble, understanding, and tender. Let’s look at the three other instances in the New Testament in which the word “gentle” appears for more context: first, in Matthew 5:5, which declares that “the meek” will inherit the earth; second, in Matthew 21:5 (quoting Zechariah 9:9), which foresees that Jesus “is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey”; and finally, in Peter’s emphasis that it is above all essential to nourish “the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:4).

What about “lowly”? Though most often translated into “humble” in the New Testament (as in James 4:6, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”), we ought to consider humility not in the sense of a virtue, but rather as the humility that comes from suffering adverse circumstances. The Old Testament also uses the original Greek word for “lowly” in this application, as in Luke 1:52, in which Mary, while pregnant with Jesus, sings to God: “He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted them of low degree.” In Romans 12:16, Paul advises us to “not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.”

In other words, his gentle and lowly heart reserves his loyalty, devotion, and love not for those who are impressive, well appointed, or powerful, but for those who have sinned, failed, disappointed, and suffered—those with wounds and those who feel broken. He does not wish to punish or discipline, but rather to radiate love, patience, and healing to those who feel they have no more strength or resources to carry on or forge a new path.

Our lives will not be free from challenges and loss, but when such hardships do arise, and with them our insecurities, doubts, and anxieties, his gentle heart will welcome you all the more.

Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose

The thing about human nature is that we often project our own insecurities, limitations, and (mis)understandings of how the world operates onto others. Under human logic, the more resources someone has, the more we think they will condescend to the poor; the more gorgeous someone is, the more we think they will be unnerved by the ugly.

But what does Jesus do when the leper comes to him and asks him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean”? Instead of recoiling, he extends himself towards him to touch him and responds, “I will; be clean” (Matthew 8:2-3). The word “will” in these passages denotes “wish” or “desire.” In Jesus' response of reaching out and healing him, he shows us his heart.

“Your ways are not my ways.”

If you’ve ever received a gift and guiltily wondered how you would repay the gifter, you may have some qualms about the gift of God’s love. How could you possibly repay someone who is said to have died on the cross for your sins?

The German theologian Jürgen Moltmann has written that, while we think of miracles as ruptures within the natural earthly order, they are in fact a repair to the divine patterns of God. We live in a fallen world so permeated by war, disease, and death that they feel natural, but in fact it is the synchronicities of miracles that speak to how the world was originally conceived by God.

How he loves

Imagine a kind-hearted billionaire doctor, well stocked with unlimited medical supplies, treatments, medicine, and antibiotics, travels to his home country which has become a war zone to provide emergency medical care. He seeks no material compensation and has enough resources to care for his fellow countrymen in a devastated conflict zone where he himself originated and still has family members. Imagine that most everyone refuses to accept his care; they are too proud, too stubborn, or too independent to accept help from him and his charity.

At last, a few stragglers in desperate need of medical attention mobilize the courage to defy the others and approach the doctor for free treatment. How would the doctor feel?

Key ideas in Gentle and Lowly

What is Gentle and Lowly about?

Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (2020) takes us into the core of Christ’s teachings to reveal the boundless mercy and grace of God’s heart. By diving into scripture and the teachings of the Puritans, this title reassures those who have strayed from Christ of the miracle of his radical love.

About the Author

Dane C. Ortlund received his PhD from Wheaton College and is Naperville Presbyterian Church’s senior pastor in Illinois. He has served as the editor for the Knowing the Bible series, edited by theologian J. I. Packer and featuring contributions from renowned pastors and religious leaders, and the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series. He is also the author of Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners (2021).