Bowels of Mercy

Hello everyone.

Well, the school year is over.  Aaron, my youngest, graduated from high school last night. It's hard to believe.  Where did the time go?  Any way, I wanted to continue sharing from my study in the book of Luke a little tidbit that I have enjoyed recently.  In Luke 1:67-80, Zechariah the priest and father of John the Baptist prophecies.  It appears that the Holy Spirit has given Zechariah a great deal of insight, because he seems to understand what is about to happen, a lot more than other people do.  He says a lot of great things about the coming Messiah in his prophecy, like, "He has come to his people and redeemed them (v. 68)," and "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us.  (v. 69)"  Now, Jesus has not been born yet here.  John was just born, and Jesus birth is still a few months away, but Zechariah seems to understand that God is soon to dwell among the people, buy them back and offer to them salvation.  In verse 77, Zechariah talks about sins being forgiven.  So it seems that Zecharaih, through the Holy Spirit, understands that the Messiah was not about a great rescue from Rome, but a rescue from our sin. It is on verses 76-78 is where I want to focus for today.  It says:

   And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
      for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,
   to give his people the knowledge of salvation
      through the forgiveness of their sins,
   because of the tender mercies of our God,
      by which the rising sun will come to uss from heaven.

I want on the phrase translated here as "tender mercy."  It is because of this tender mercy that God offer us salvation through the forgiveness of our sins.  So I was curious about this phrase and decided to look it up in the Greek.  To be honest, my knowledge of the Greek is very limited, but I do own a Zondervan parallel Greek and English New Testament and a Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of New Testament Words, with a rudimentary knowledge of how to use them.  So from the Grrek, I looked at Luke 1:78.  The word that is translated "tender" is σπλαγχνα (splagkna).  According to Thayer's it means of "bowels or intestines." Both the KJV and NIV translate it into the word "tender," because, I think the phrase, "bowels of mercy," makes very litle sense to ur western ears.  We would probably use "heart" to express this type of emotion.  Thayer says this though, "the Greek poets fr. Aeschylus down the bowels were regarded as the seat of the more violent passions, such as anger and love; but by the Hebrews as the seat of the tenderer affections, esp. kindness, benevolence and compassion."  I thnk that what I and getting from Zechariah and Thayer is that God's mercy for us resides deep within Him, as deep as His intestines.  Let us all enjoy God's bowels of mercy.

Tom

Highly Favored

Helloeveryone.

I haven't posted anything since December.  It has been a while.  Between family, job, graduate school and youth and fimaily ministry, I am not finiding a lot of time to write.  Any way, the school year is winding for me and I am hopeful that I can find more time to post on this blog some of the things that I have been learning in my own Bible Study.  When I last posted, I was studying Exodus.  I finished that and moved onto a study of the book of Luke.  I have studied through Luke before, but I have studied through all of the Gospels now, so decided togo through Luke a second time and see what else I could learn.

In Luke 1:26-38, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and says, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."  Later, he says, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God."  So Mary is not only favored, she is highly favored.  I have been pondering what that means for Mary, because I like the idea of being hughly favored by God.  So what does it mean? and how does one accomplish this? 

I would assume that being highly favored means that someone, in this case God, is going to do you favors.  Makes sense.  I like that idea, because it seems that God can grant some pretty awesome favors.  My mind automatically goes to ward material blessing.  But that is what what I see happening for the highly favored Mary.  Instead, the only windfall I see coming Mary's way in her highly favored status is some gold, frankensence and myrhh.  She and Joseph probably used this to pay for their passage to Egypt, after Herod send out his edict to kill all the little boys.  As far I call tell Mary lived her life in poverty.  So being "highly favored", must mean something else.  What we see is that Mary was given a tremendous honor, but also a tremendous responsibility.  She was to give birth to and raise the son of God. So, it seems that being highly favored doesn't mean that God gives us things, but rather entrusts with His things.

So what made Mary so favorable to God.  We can see this in the same story.  God was asking Mary to become an unwed expectant mother.  Her explanation for her finace and family, taken at face value, was ridiculous and impossible.  She would face the possibility of being cast aside and stigmatized for doing what God wanted her to do.  But she was willing. In Luke 1:38, she responds, "I am the Lord's servant, may your word to me be fulfilled." I'm sure God knew her heart in advance and knew that she would respond this way.  I doubt He would have asked her otherwise.  So there it is.  How does one become highly favored of God, you have a heart that is willing to do whatever is asked.  Any wany, that is what I think based on the srciptures. 

Tom