Emphatical Utterances (Luke 12:49-50)

Exclamation points as punctuation marks (formerly called ecphonemes, a now-defunct word) did not exist in print until well into the 1400s. Before then writing tended to run together and made text difficult to understand and interpret, although different methods of separation of words had been in use by then.

There is some confusion over where the exclamation point originated, but there is one theory that says Latin monks invented it by writing expressions of joy, essentially a hurray as lo. The way in which they did so eventually became a line over a dot instead of a line next to an o, and voila! our now much-debated punctuation mark was invented. Another claim comes from a 14th-century Italian poet, Iacopo Alpoleio da Urbisaglia, who wrote Ars punctuandi (The Art of Punctuating), only he called his version of the mark an “admiration point.”

Regardless of what it is called and when it originated and who gets credit for it, the mark seems here to stay. The mark has been around in the print world for quite a while, but in writing, teachers advise students to use it sparingly, which might explain its late inclusion (‘70s) onto typewriters and keyboards. However, as we live in a culture where it follows that more must be better (!!!), as such, the use of exclamation points has exploded. 

My favorite dictionary, Webster’s 1828, defines an exclamation as a “vehement vociferation; emphatical utterance, a vehement elevation of the voice; a note by which emphatical utterance or outcry is marked: thus!; in grammar, a word expressing outcry; an interjection; a word expressing some passion, as wonder, fear or grief.” Many people today may not even know the word vehement, but knowing might help shape their use of the exclamation mark at the end of so many words and sentences as well as the use of more than one at a time in sequence. 

Why this brief history and instruction on the exclamation point? We discussed it last night in the context of its use in the Bible. In studying Luke 12:49-50, we encountered what is marked as two exclamations by Jesus: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!” And then again in verse 56 as Jesus calls the multitudes “hypocrites!" because of their ability to look at the sky and analyze it but their utter failure to “discern the time” in which they were living. 

Three exclamation points in such a short span of verses drew the attention of the ladies and they commented on it. I jokingly said I would blog about it tomorrow, yet, here I am doing so. . .

 

There is a point here that we can glean from and relate to discerning our own time. Yes, someone did choose long ago to interpret Jesus’ words from the Greek and later Latin texts as exclamations, shading how we read the text today in a culture laden with exclamations (seen the news this week?). However, Jesus’ desire to finish the work He had begun in coming to earth and turning His face toward the cross He knew was coming cannot be denied. His calling out of people who were blind to the fact the Messiah, the One they had been looking for longingly, was walking with them in body, teaching them, cannot be overlooked. An exclamation point is certainly deserved!

Exclamation marks serve us well in pointing out Jesus’ emphatical utterances in this text. He was vehement, speaking with force and heat and eagerness and urgency. What will we do with His words? Will we look at the skies over America and analyze them or remain ignorant and content with living in darkness? Will we who claim to be the Church understand the holiness of God, the urgency of making things right with God while we are still “along the way” (v. 58), or will we, too, stand before God some day, and hear, “Hypocrite!” because we, too, failed to understand the necessity of repentance? Calling oneself a Christian isn't enough. This week's political fiascos show that the wearing of a name may be just that instead of indicating one who is worshiping in spirit and in truth. If people who wear the name don't understand the difference, how will a world, broken and unenlightened, come to understand true Christianity?! (Yes, I put those two together in an interrobang). 

Death surely comes to all, and often it comes suddenly, which we should better be able to understand from living in a world infected with COVID-19. We have no idea why it affects people the way it does, why there is a difference between the severity of cases, why some unlikely ones die and others likely to die live. If we are alive, we still have the chance to repent, but the time is short, whether we die young or old, or "suddenly or sedately" as my former pastor, Derek Gentle, often mentioned. We must make the most of the time we have been given! (Yes, there is an exclamation point on that sentence.) Repent or perish is a message worthy of exclamation. It is a message of life and death. 

Punctuate wisely, my friends, not wasting your use of emphatical utterances on a world that sees them everywhere. Understand what is important and live in light of that!