Recently, I read an article by Elizabeth Grace Matthew entitled Fragility, Not Feminization, Is What’s Ailing America’s Men.  I wonder – can we overemphasize feminization while neglecting the fragility of men?  Matthews  maintains that “we must first resist framing as the de-masculinization of men what is in fact the infantilization (or, de-adultification, if you will) of all Americans – male and female alike.”  Rather than cultivating perseverance, we are teaching boys and girls to expect convenience and to seek comfort.  She believes that “making both men and women more like small children is at the core of today’s veneration of fragility and marginalization of grit.  Making men less masculine has nothing to do with it.”  

Matthews also sees “an infantilized culture” where men and women contend “against each other in a condition of perverse equality.”  This happens through “coddling” rather than by “fostering their maturity through the development of physical, emotional, and intellectual resilience” expressed emotionally and intellectually as well as physically.  Through “gentle parenting” and “inclusion” our country is becoming increasingly fragile.  

Beyond this, women are not necessarily more fragile than men.  “Using ‘masculine’ as though it is a synonym for ‘adult,'” notes Matthew, “we tends to equate what is ‘feminine’ with what is ‘infantile.'”  Teenage girls may struggle more with mental health issues when they identify as progressive, since “insulation from political perspectives with which one disagrees and adherence to one’s preferred pronouns” are important to their sense of safety.  Matthew believes that women tend to be more agreeable and more neurotic than men.  Thus, they may feel “triggered” by gender dysphoria.  Women are, however,  more likely to experience empathy toward – or to think negatively about – the one whose behavior triggered them.  

Meanwhile, boys often react in a masculine version of infantile existence: “wallowing in the kind of Peter Pan-dom that makes them unsuitable partners for adult women.”  Matthew suggests that men have a greater propensity toward aggression – not as a flaw, but as a biological reality.  “Men should not be accused of ‘toxic masculinity’ simply for being less agreeable and more aggressive than the average woman.”  We need to be careful that we do not blame the personal and psychological fragility of men as a decline in masculinity.  “We risk,” Matthews argues, “implying that such fragility is somehow constitutive of womanhood.”

From Matthew’s perspective, we should focus not so much on the decline of masculinity but rather on the development of character. “Women are capable of the same moral growth and accountability that those who praise the ‘masculine virtues’ seek to reestablish as a norm for men.”  And virtues such as reason, courage, and strength may be exhibited differently by females than by males.  Matthew concludes by stating, “Contemporary American women must exemplify them – no less than our brothers today or our foremothers in the nineteenth century – for the benefit of men and women alike, if our society is to thrive.”

In my view, this article hearkens back to the call to be both “lion and lamb.”  As a man, I confess that I can not live up to this metaphor.  I need what Matthew calls “development of character.”  I need Jesus’ help to wear the clothing of both the lion and the lamb.  “You must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.  Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  Above all, clothe yourselves , which binds us all together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3:12-14).

This prompts me to confess: 1) I am a broken man, whose heart is being mended by the Lord,  2) I am His beloved sinner, and 3) He’s not through with me yet.  

Isaiah 47 and 48 give us a picture of two cities: Babylon and Jerusalem.  In his commentary on Isaiah, John Oswalt writes, “Isaiah 47-48 should be considered together as two sides of the final conclusion of Chapters 40-48.  If God is to keep his promises, two things must happen.  Babylon must fall (chp. 47) and the exiled people must listen to God and believe him so that when Babylon does fall and they have the opportunity to return home, they will dare to act on the opportunity (chp. 48).” 

Babylon is a portrait of worldly power and arrogance.  She is called the queen of kingdoms (47:5), believing she will last forever (47:7).  She has a false sense of security, thinking she is self-sufficient, “lounging in your security and saying, ‘I am, and there is none besides me” (47:8).  In her arrogance she defies God.  “You trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’  Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me'” (47:10).  Declaring “I am” is an expression of self-deification.  Years ago, I wrote in the margin of my Bible, “USA today.”  Culture seems only to be getting worse in our day. 

But the message of chapter 47 is that Babylon will soon suffer great disaster.  “So disaster will overtake you and you won’t be able to charm it away.  Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out.  A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared” (47:11).  “Her sense of impregnability is a complete illusion.  She is like the man who built his house upon the sand… Babylon is the city of destruction… Babylon represents humankind organized in defiance of God… Babylon is still with us, and still stands under judgment of God.  The historical Babylon of the sixth century BC was merely one manifestation of it” (Webb – Isaiah). Can we see the marks of Babylon in our own culture?

In Chapter 48 God speaks to his exiled people and urges them to pay attention to his message.  God points out their unfaithfulness.  “You don’t keep your promises, even though you call yourselves the holy city” ( 48:1-2).  But God knows about their waywardness. “Long ago I told you what was going to happen” (48:3).  “One reason He made predictive  promises in the Bible was to prevent us from crediting our idols with power and success” (Ortlund – Isaiah). 

God plans to do something new.  “Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new, things you never heard of before” (48:8).  But the people needed to be disciplined.  “I have refined you in the furnace of suffering” (48:10).  For the sake of his own glory and in his mercy God will rescue his people.  “I will rescue you for my sake – yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished and I will not share my glory with idols” (48:11). 

We need to know that God in our day will bring about his purposes in new ways.  We will not be able take credit for what will happen in the days to come.  We will discover the hand of God even in our day.  “God is never be defeated.  He has a purpose even in the painful upheavals of history… He has rescued not to punish us as we deserve, but to bring his glory to triumph finally in human history” (Ortlund – Isaiah).   

Men, our call is to keep our eyes on the Lord of history, knowing that we will leave Babylon.  “Yet even now, be free from your captivity!  Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.  Sing out this message!  Shout it to the ends of the earth! (48:20).