Why are the earthly words of Jesus in our Bible in Red?

How did we get the earthly words of Jesus in red? Why red? Up until two weeks ago as I was preparing for a sermon related to the new sermon series at Church called "Words in Red," I did not know myself. I'm almost in 61 years old. I have a seminary degree in divinity and didn't know until I "googled" the phrase "Bible words in red." There were several hits. I chose one written by the International Society of Bible Collectors. For many Christian -- like myself -- who grew up with the words of Jesus being in red all your life I never questions it.

When the original books of the Bible were written the writers of the Bible did not have a red ink pen and a black in pen. The origin of the red letter edition dates back to 1899 to a German born immigrant whose family moved to New York City when he was two years old. His name was Louis Klopsch. At the age of twenty he was editing a merchant's trade newspaper. He would enhance the columns by interspersing Bible passages in the text. Later he would by a print shop, and became a successful publisher. According to the article, in 1890 he was the American editor of the British weekly, The Christian Herald. Klopsch would later buy the paper and before his death in 1910 the paper's circulation had increased from 30,000 to a quarter million.

On June 19, 1899, while Klopsch was writing an editorial, he was reading the twenty-second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. His eyes focused on the twentieth verse: "This cup which is poured out for you in the new covenant in My blood" (NASU). The symbolism of blood and the color red caused Klopsch to conceive the idea of printing the words of Jesus in red. Klopsch asked a Minister friend by the name of Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage if the words of Jesus could be printed in red. Dr. Talmage is quoted to have replied, "It could do no harm and it most certainly could do much good."

In 1900, Klopsch printed 60,000 initial copies of the "Red Letter Testaments" and they sold out. The popularity of the red letter editions of the Bible has increased ever since.

I hope and pray that you will join me in study the words of Jesus whether your Bible is a red letter edition or not.

Aby's Elmo is my Friend

Well, this well be a short post. I had rotator cuff surgery yesterday. My granddaughter has been praying for her "bops," and she brought me her Elmo -- on temporary loan -- to help my recovery. Notice, Elmo has a "bo-bo" too. My surgery went smoothly. I've included a picture of me with Aby's Elmo. Also, notice the highlighted area of my picture for the latest in medical technology -- my surgeon, Dr. Berman, who I highly recommend, marked my right hand just before surgery with a big "yes" to indicated the correct shoulder for yesterday's surgery. I've never had surgery before so I thought it was kind of cool.

"It's hard to think without your parents."

We had the privilege to keep two of our four grand kids over the weekend while our son and daughter-in-law had the opportunity to attend a retreat. It was a fun and eventful weekend. My grandson Zach (pictured above at his sister's soccer game during the weekend) made some cute statements during the weekend. Zach, who is 3 years old, has a funny personality. On Friday, a few hours after his parents had left, Zach was walking down the hallway from our spare bedroom with his head hung kind of low while sluggishly dragging his feet, and I overheard him saying, "It's hard to think without your parents." Needless to say, when I finally stopped laughing, I had to give him a big hug. Zach also said on several occasions during the weekend while shaking his head, "I'm stuck here forever" (for him being at bops and nanny's house for 4 days must have seemed like a life sentence in prison). Needless to say, when his parents returned Monday afternoon, his world was finally set in order.