SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17 2024 - THE ROOT OF THE GOSPEL

Recorded Worship on Youtube

November 17, 2024 -17

Deborah Laforet

The Root of the Gospel

Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by

your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.

Have you seen those memes on the internet that show famous misquotes? Here are a few

tongue-in-cheek memes that poke fun at this practice.

“The problem with quotes on the internet is that they are often not true,” attributed to

Abraham Lincoln who, of course, lived more than a hundred years before we had internet.

“Use the force, Harry.” Gandalf. A quote that uses a famous Star Wars phrase, talking to

a character from Harry Potter, quoted by a character from the Lord of the Rings, and with a

picture of Captain Picard from Star Trek.

“If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine,”

attributed here to Jesus, which, while it may sound like it fits, the quote actually comes from Ben

Kenobi from Star Wars.

These three quotes are satire but here a couple that are common misquotes.

‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’

this quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein, but was actually quoted in a mystery novel by

Rita Mae Brown, a civil rights campaigner and feminist writer.

“Let them eat cake,” attributed to Marie Antoinette, the French queen who supposedly

uttered these words when told that the people of France had no bread to eat. However, it was

Jean-Jacques Rousseau who wrote that ‘a great princess’ had told the country people to eat

brioche when no bread was available, and he wrote this in 1767, when the future queen was just

12 years old.

Just two more that connect directly to our faith.: Famous architect, Ludwig Mies van den

Rohe, famously said, “The devil is in the details,” when actually he said, “God is in the details.”

And an often misquoted verse from our bible, from Timothy 6:10 is often said as, “Money is the

root of all evil,” but actually, it’s, “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

When we hear something profound, we want to repeat it. When words are impactful and

inspiring, we want them to be held up and remembered. Unfortunately, sometimes we distort

these phrases to make them more quippy or more relevant to our own lives, and sometimes we

attribute the words to people that might give it more weight and power. Sometimes the meaning

of the original quote changes completely because it’s taken out of context and sometimes we lose

the original meaning. Google some of these misquotes. You might be surprised.

Our bible is often misquoted and, in fact, there are misquotes in our bible. One of the

most famous is in the book of Matthew. The author tells us of an angel who visited Joseph,

advising him to take Mary as his wife, and that the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

The author says that all of this is to take place to fulfill what had been spoken by the prophet, and

he quotes, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”

(1:23)

Now, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, there is a word in the book of the

prophet Isaiah that was translated from the Hebrew word, ‘almah,' to the Greek word,

‘parthenos.’ ‘Parthenos’ means virgin, and therefore, the author of Matthew, who wrote this

gospel in Greek, told the story of a virgin, who had conceived and would bear a son. In Hebrew

though, the word, ‘almah,’ is a young woman. Isaiah 7:14 actually reads, “Therefore, the Lord

will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with chid and shall bear a son, and shall name

him Immanuel.” Imagine how history would be different if Mary had been described as a young

woman bearing a child rather than a virgin.

The point that I want to make today with all this talk about quotes and misquotes is that

knowing our Hebrew Scriptures is important to understanding our Christian Scriptures. So much

of what was written in our Christian Scriptures, letters written by Paul and others, the gospel

stories about Jesus, the Book of Revelations, were written by Jews, by people who studied the

stories passed down of Moses, who held up the words of prophets for how they were to live, and

who used the psalms to sing their own songs of celebration and sorrow.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote about the importance of scripture, and he wasn’t

referring to the gospels because they had not been written yet. He was referring to his own

sacred Jewish writings. In the verses Fletcher read for us, we hear Paul quote directly from one

of the lesser know prophets, Habakkuk. He writes, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

In Habakkuk we read, “the righteous live by their faithfulness.” Paul was a Jewish scholar and

he knew his scripture backwards and forwards. Much of Paul’s theology, his values, his

ideology, and even the way he lived, would have been based on these Jewish writings. Yes, Paul

was instrumental in spreading the gospel and the good news of Jesus, the Christ, but his gospel

was rooted in the good news of the Hebrew Scriptures. Because so much of Christianity is based

on Paul’s writings, our faith is rooted in the good news of Jesus, and of the Hebrew Scriptures.

These stories have been passed down for thousands of years. When they finally got

written down, they became more fixed, but still changed over the years, as people wrote and re-

wrote, in their own language and then translating it to several others. The bible was not meant to

be quippy. It was never meant for one to take a single phrase out of context, and pass it down as

law or wisdom. This is where we get misunderstandings that permit slavery because of a verse

or two in the bible, or when men who love men or women who love women are told they are

sinful because of problematic verses in the bible. I found a quote by Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish

theologian who studies the Christian Scriptures, that speaks to this: She writes:

“These passages have been generally repudiated or rendered metaphoric by most of

those who read the verses prohibiting same-sex sexual activity so strictly. The way forward, if we

take seriously the idea that we are all molded in the divine image and likeness, is to determine

the touchstone, such as love of neighbor and love of stranger. Anything that prevents such love

needs to be questioned, if not eliminated. Not all passages are of equal import, and not all

actions lead to wholeness.”

In the Hebrew Scriptures, we are told over and over again to love our neighbour and to

love the stranger. Jesus confirms these commandments in his own teachings, lifting up this age

old wisdom passed down for thousands of years through the Jewish faith. Love is the heartbeat

we hear throughout these ancient teachings. It’s the base note. It’s the root of the gospel or the

good news that Paul shared and the stories that were shared about Jesus. If the verse we’re

sharing or the meme that is quoting a piece of scripture does not express love, then we’re missing

something. As Amy-Jill says, it “needs to questioned, if not eliminated.”

If you listen closely, you can hear the drumbeat of love throughout out sacred scriptures.

In some places it may be very quiet and other places, it will be loud and clear, but it’s always

there. The drum beat, the base note, the heartbeat - of God’s love. It’s the love shared between

neighbours and the love shared with strangers. Our faith, and the faith of generations, is rooted

in that love. May we continue to share it, to make it loud and clear, to not confuse it with

messages that exclude or hate, put down or cause pain. God’s love is ever present and is

unconditional. It’s a love we can all share, with one, with all. May it be always so. Amen.

Romans 1:16-17 & Habbakuk 2:1-4

(Introduce yourself. - Do not move or tap microphone.)

Today I am reading two passages. The first is from the Apostle Paul in his

letter to the Romans. Then I will read a passage from the prophet

Habakkuk. The words Paul used in his writings to the Romans were based

on this passage from Habbakuk, words he would have known from his

own Jewish faith.

First I am reading verses 16 and 17 from the first chapter of Paul's letter to

the Romans.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for

everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it

the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written,

“The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

Now I will read from chapter two of Habakkuk, the first four verses.

I will stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the rampart;

I will keep watch to see what he will say to me

and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

2 Then the Lord answered me and said:

Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so that a runner may read it.

3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time;

it speaks of the end and does not lie.

If it seems to tarry, wait for it;

it will surely come; it will not delay.

4 Look at the proud!

Their spirit is not right in them,

but the righteous live by their faithfulness.

May the Spirit guide our understanding of this holy scripture.

tracy chippendale