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ARTB Bible Blog: 10/6/10, Wrestling with GRACETo Timothy the beloved son: Kindness and nurturing and peace... (2 Timothy 1:2) ARTB Draft A note from A. Frances Werner:
Today's verse is definitely a draft! I'm sharing it with you to put you in the center of my day today. This verse is generally rendered GRACE and MERCY and PEACE. We've done plenty of work on understanding why the word NURTURING exists in ARTB. But the word I've been wrestling with all day is the word normally translated as GRACE.
In Greek, the word GRACE is fairly easy to follow. The Greek word CHARIS (Strong's Greek number 5485) is translated as GRACE fairly consistently in the KJV and NASB (84%) and most other versions. But the Aramaic is quite a different story. There are easily THREE different word roots that could be translated as GRACE. My challenge as I am finishing the text is to resolve those duplicate and triplicate word uses to make the ARTB New Testament truly translinear. This point is the most challenging, and most fun. It is also the most serious. One doesn't mess with the concept of GRACE casually!
One Aramaic root is associated with GOODNESS. That is a build from the initiation of creation --God saw GOOD--Genesis 1:18. But a tiny letter switch appears in the New Testament in addition to GOODNESS, associated with Jesus (Yeshua), which I'm testing as KINDNESS. Kindness is a lovely word which I understand in concrete terms. KINDNESS is the opposite of WICKEDNESS. There is no kindness in a wicked person. The GOODNESS of God was revealed in creation. His law and his decrees were GOOD. But his KINDNESS was revealed in the healing, nurturing touch of His son. Selah.
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ARTB Bible Blog 10/5/10: Protect the harvest!He surveyed it, executed it, planted it with the choicest-vine, built a tower in its midst, and also excavated a winepress in it. (Isaiah 5:2) ARTB
 A note from A. Frances Werner: I was reading Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad recently because of its descriptions of the Holy Land. I was struck by a passage that explained the TOWER in the orchards. I guess I had always wondered why they put towers in the vineyards and orchards. Duh!!! During fall harvest, men slept OUTDOORS in the vineyards and orchards to protect the crops from intruders--animals and people of all types that would steal the juicy fruit. He describes passing house after house and finding man after man sticking their heads out to make sure their harvest that they nurtured so carefully would be protected.
This fall harvest season is the time to press to the finish. All the fruits of labor throughout the year and throughout many years is here. Protect it so it can be delivered as a gift to Yahweh!
(I'm a little late getting this out today. I thumbed through my copy 3 times to find the exact page reference, and can't find it. I would have liked to quote it exactly, but I don't want to spend any more time finding it--I need to get back to the New Testament! Mark Twain is humorous, but unfortunately he really does not know Yahweh. Humor cannot hide someone's acrid view of faith. Thanks be to God that his work does protect an insight into NURTURING love!) HeadlineARTB Bible Blog ARTB Bible Blog, 10/4/10: The Father's NurturingHe that loves me will-be nurtured from my father and I am nurturing him and will show him my soul. (John 14:21) ARTB Draft A note from A. Frances Werner: This is a great example from Jesus' (Yeshua's) last supper discourse showing the NURTURING love of God the Father and his NURTURING toward us. ARTB Bible Blog 10/1/10: Umbrella StorySeeing the large assembly, he was nurturing over them and curing their diseases. Matthew 14:14 ARTB Draft
A note from A. Frances Werner:
Most versions utilize the word COMPASSION or MOVED WITH PITY, based upon the Greek word splanchnizomai. That Greek word is often used to describe how Yeshua (Jesus) felt when viewing a large crowd. The Aramaic once again challenges our understanding by repeating the word RACHAM, showing us His NURTURING love.
A few weeks ago, I attended a neighboring church. It was raining very hard just prior to the start time. When I pulled up, I was surprised to see the pastor with an umbrella in the pouring rain, helping the elderly people out of cars and into church. I was blown away. Why?? I actually could SEE his nurturing love for his congregation. I was well aware that he had a pastor's heart for his church. But God was saying to me: Take a look. That man loves his church. He is holding that umbrella because he is happy to find a way to nurture his flock.
Well, after the service, it was still raining. Needless to say, there were a lot more ushers and folks offering umbrellas after services. How could we NOT be kind, after seeing his example? As I was helping an elderly woman to her car, God pointed out to me: You did a nice kindness. But the pastor's kindness flowed out of a long term committed nurturing of his flock based in prayer.
Having eyes to see ministry out of NURTURING love knocked me out. Whether with an umbrella or healing diseases, that's the kind of love Yeshua (Jesus) has for us!
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