Punctuation is Key
Pretend you know nothing about the Elite Enterprises 917 – the proportionally challenged kit car featured in black-and-white ads in the back of car magazines throughout the 1970s that showed two people lowering a Le Mans-inspired fiberglass body onto an agricultural Volkswagen frame – and you scan the results of a classic car auction and see that a 917 recently gaveled “sold” at $15,000. The 917? THE 917, as in the Watkins Glen, Brands Hatch, Monza, Can-Am, and Le Mans – the race and the movie – 917? Shouldn’t that be $15,000,000? You blink, check your pulse, check the results again, and wonder if someone forgot a bunch of zeroes and a comma or two.
Punctuation is important. Consider the exchange in the Bible between Jesus and one of the thieves crucified and slowly dying beside him:
“Then [the thief] said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’” (Luke 23:42-43)
This is a good time to brush up on the accuracy and consistency of the original sources that comprise the New Testament writings (Lee Strobel’s excellent “The Case for Christ” is a good place to start). While the English translation of “paradise” evokes a variety of images, there’s no such discrepancy in the translation of “today,” or the enormously important placement of the punctuation surrounding it.
Jesus didn’t say, “I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise (eventually).” He promised an immediate cessation of suffering, and even more audacious, an immediate, unearned entre into paradise.
There, from the mouth of the suffering savior, are the sweet words of mercy for any misfit, oddball, screw-up, phony, has-been, poseur, or faker. There is the nervy confidence of absolutely free grace for the accused, terminated, incarcerated, and capital offender. It’s “truth” with no caveats, “today,” with no typos, “you” with no exceptions.
Reflecting on these words, author and pastor Kyle Idleman identified with this unnamed thief and the nagging feeling of guilt they share with all of humanity. “I found myself in a place where I could no longer deny my guilt or pretend that everything was ok. I cried out to Jesus to save me even though I had nothing to offer him in return. He rescued me from the punishment I deserved. One day in heaven I look forward to meeting this thief, finding out his name, giving him a hug, and telling him, ‘I feel like I know you. What Jesus did for you, he did for me.”
That one comma makes a huge difference, within that Bible verse and in the 917s. One is rare, with only 25 FIA-homologated examples built and dozens of racing victories (including Porsche’s first – and second and third – overall wins at Le Mans). The other also features German engineering (ja, die Volkswagen) and built with fiberglass, but with a few enormous differences.
The most powerful 917s were the twin 917/30 Can-Am racers of 1973, and by some estimates they were the most powerful road-racing cars ever built until that time. Twin turbos and a 5.4-liter displacement meant 1,100 horsepower at 7,800 rpm, although racers could adjust the boost manually. That’s a terrifying prospect for most sane humans. But for others, it’s paradise.
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