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When winter comes we sometimes wish for warmer days. “Hotter than the Fourth of July” has become a
popular metaphor for an extremely hot day. In 1980 Stevie Wonder released his
nineteenth album on the Tamia Motown label. It was titled Hotter than the Fourth of July. That no doubt popularized expression.
In December our thoughts turn to the birth of our dear Savior and bringing light and peace into our hurting world. Several of the sayings that we have come to know were made popular in Christmas stories. One of these was having one’s work cut out for them. We are living in a day of dread, division, disaster and disease. This common
saying has been linked to the tailoring business as far back as the early 17th
century.
This word conveys the notion that an idea or reflection
expressed was not a part of one’s original train of thought or plan. It has,
according to a major dictionary online, been in our vernacular since 1655-1665. The concept of an afterthought is found in the Greek word for repentance, which
is demonstrated by turning around and demonstrating the opposite point of view
and practice. In the Bible in Matthew 11:20–21,
the original Greek word here for repentance is μετάνοια
(metanoia), which translated literally is ‘thinking
after’ or ‘afterthought.’
The earliest verifiable printing of the actual word, in
the original text hyphenated from one line to the next, is in the English
translation by George Stanhope, D.D., of the French work by Pierre Charon, Of
Wisdom, Three Books, 1697:
“…and to all he conversed
with; nay, to stake his Reputation for the Truth of an Opinion and yet Time and AfterThought have demonstrated the direct Contrary;
This bold confiding Man, I say, will be taught from hence to distrust such
hasty Arrogance…”
As Christians and Templars God and His work and will should
never be an afterthought. God must come first in our lives.
This idea of this
saying came from the words of Jesus in his famed ‘Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:41. Jesus is quoted as saying:
“Whoever forces
you to go one mile, go with him two.”
(NASB)
Here he was
referring to the Roman practice of ‘impressment,’ which allowed a Roman soldier
to require a Jewish citizen to carry his backpack, weighing upwards of 100
pounds, for one Roman mile, consisting of 1,000 paces. The expression has been used
as the title for everything from books to films, songs and music albums.
Today when so
many people think only of themselves, as Christian knights it is important for
us to be aware of the needs of others and be willing to go the extra mile for
others, even if they do not share our convictions. By showing the love of Christ,
especially in this time of division and pandemic, we will become instruments of
God’s peace. nnDnn,
Sir Stan St.
This expression, meaning excessive
effort exerted under trying circumstances, is often attributed to famous
favorite sons, such as Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain. Though
these fine gentlemen certainly utilized it, none of them were its author. The
root of it comes from the Bible in Luke 22:44:
“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and
his sweat was as it were great drops
of blood falling down to the
ground.” (KJV)
Though this verse does not use the word
‘tears,’ it is implied, and was used in the first known printed reference to
the phrase in the English translation of Sermons on Various Subjects by
Christmas Evans (1766-1838), translated from the Welsh by J. Davis, 1837:
“Christ the High Priest of our profession, when he laid down
his life for us on Calvary, was bathed in his own blood, sweat and tears.”
Evans, sometimes
dubbed ‘the John Bunyan of Wales,’ came about his Christian name due to his
birth on 25 December 1766. A lot of blood, sweat
and tears have gone into making our nation what it became: the greatest nation
on earth. The forces of evil would like to tear it down.
The roots of his saying go back to the Bible, particularly to the predictions
of Jesus in Matthew 24. In speaking
of the end of the age, or in older translations, the end of the world, verse 33
(KJV, 1611) says:
“So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these
things, know that it is near, even
at the doors.”
Throughout history, since that time, there have
been several times when the end of the world as we know it has been predicted. The
saying “The end is nigh” comes from a man who walked up and down London’s
Oxford Street in the early 21st century, either wearing a sandwich
board, or at times, carrying a placard, bearing the phrase “The end is nigh!”
It became a cultural phenomenon.
An annual British fanzine was launched by
Michael Molcher at the Bristol Comic Expo in 2005, which has since become a
semiannual publication.
However, looking about us today we realize that
the world needs great change and that can only come through spiritual renewal
or divine intervention. We in this Holy Order need to be a part of the
solution, not the problem.
We have all heard the old
adage “Don’t blow your own horn, or trumpet,” or “Don’t toot your
own horn.” The thought which formed this metaphor is originally from the Bible. In Matthew 6:2, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns against the
practice of proclaiming our own virtues to be praised by others for our
charitable gifts using strikingly similar phraseology. The New World Translation is closest on this:
“…When you go making gifts of mercy, do not blow a trumpet ahead of you, just
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be
glorified by men…” Remember that the original text on this was written in the early 1st century AD, so naturally the wording would be slightly different, but the meaning is the same. Knights should be humble.
How many times
have you wanted to do something you knew you should under difficult
circumstances and couldn’t muster up the courage to do it? This cliché is
taken directly from the Bible, from
the words of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night of his arrest when he
found the disciples sleeping when he had told them to sit and wait while he
went to pray. The passage appears in the parallel Gospels in Matthew 26:41 and Mark 14:36, the latter being an exact quote of the last portion in
the King James Version, 1611:
“Watch
and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.”
Just remember, even Christ’s disciples failed. Later they took the Gospel to the world.
Comparisons of night and day and use of
them in dialogue go back as far as the Genesis creation story in the Bible,
thought to have been written circa 1,440 to 1,400 BC. But actually making an
analogy using ‘different as’ in English is not to be found in any known printed
sources until the 17th century. In 1663, Another Collection of Philosophical Conferences of the French Virtuosi,
upon Questions of all Sorts for the Improving of Natural Knowledg. Render’d
into English by G. Havers, Gent and J. Davies of Kidwelly, Gent contains the
following forerunner:
“Add to this, that
darkness, filence, and the coldness of the night being fit to recruit the Spirits, and
promcte their retirement … who turn night to day,
and day to night, a course of
life much different from that which is observ’d by the
Superiours …”
In 1685 we find a near-perfect citation in The Famous Romance of Tarsis and Zell by
Roland Le Vayer de Boutigny, translated into English by Charles Williams, in
Book III, page 247:
“First Celemante tell me little the
difference, that you pretend there is between a Gallant and a Lover; it is fo
great, replyed he, as the day is different from the night, for a Lover is
one that sleeps not, that eats not, laughs not, who seems nothing …”
In today’s world, factions
are pulling further and further apart.
So often people
go about doing whatever pleases them or advances their causes, regardless of
the effect it may have on the lives of others. The Bible tells us in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (KJV)
This teaching was passed down from the essence of Proverbs 22:8, “He who sows wickedness
reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed,” (NIV) and accented by a lesson
taught by Jesus in Matthew 13, known
as the parable of the sower. The entire point
being made is that whenever we treat others badly, it will ‘come back to haunt
us,’ and when we ignore the basic laws, both natural and physical, we will
suffer the consequences. As Christian
Knights it is our privilege to concern ourselves with what Christ would have us
do, and go about doing things which will help our fellow man and further the
cause of our Risen King. When we do these things we will never be sorry.