SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17 2024 - THE ROOT OF THE GOSPEL
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.