Episode 8 - Active Compassion

<p>In this episode we will be exploring the topic of compassion, as Yeshua mentions this quality in our highlighted verse this week:</p><p>“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Matthew 5:7</p><p>I have paraphrased this as "Extend mercy and compassion to others and you will be blessed, receiving mercy in return."</p><p>There are two aspects to this verse that I would like to explore with you today. One aspect is just reviewing what the biblical concept of mercy is that we are expected to be extending to others.  </p><p>The other aspect is that the verse has this reflexive type of principle present, where the practice of some value or ethic brings that value or ethic back to the individual practicing it.  </p><p>I find it interesting that the Strong's definition here expresses compassionate to emphasize its verb form: to compassion<i>ate,</i> as if it's something actively going on, like to calibrate an instrument or to rotate an object. To compassionate is to actively exemplify compassion.</p><p>This is most commonly used in phrases extolling God's mercy on believers, or God's mercy on Israel. It is something bestowed upon others who are not deserving, and recognized as such by those who receive it.</p><p> Many an orphanage, hospital, school, and missionary endeavor has been formed from these very ideals. Believers inspired and motivated by this kind of mercy would seek outlets for expressing it in their communities or building new institutions to meet the needs of others.</p><p>Additionally, the specific form of the word "mercy" used in this statement of Yeshua is used in only one other place in the New Testament:</p><p>“Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”Hebrews 2:17</p><p>This unique sense of the word in both of these passages implies an active quality of mercy and compassion. The high priest was always and actively ministering ab