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A Sabbath Day's Journey

By: Rev. Paul Landgraf
What is a Sabbath day's journey? First of all, it is a Jewish expression. We measure distances in meters or yards. The Jews had a certain distance that they could walk on Saturday before it would be considered work. So their synagogues that they went to on Saturday could not be very far away. The word appears only in Acts 1:12 and indicates a distance of about three-quarters of a mile.

With that in mind, I think it is important to remember the origins of Christianity. Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'. Much of the Old Testament has a literary structure that we are not aware of because of our modern emphasis on chapter and verse divisions. Within many of these blogs, I try to get the reader to see a bigger picture, a larger perspective that often includes the Old Testament and the environment that was present when the New Testament was seeing the Light of the day.

Second, a Sabbath day's journey is intentionally short. These 'journeys' with a text, almost always one of the three readings for that Sunday, are deliberately brief discussions. This blog was never designed to be a comprehensive look at any text. Sometimes a specific word is studied in detail. But, as a whole, a blog entry, by itself, is meant to be quite brief.

Finally, since the term 'Sabbath day's journey' appears in Acts, it is meant to appeal to a wide variety of people. This blog is meant for those who cannot come on Sunday mornings. And it is also for those who do come on Sunday mornings but would also like a further study of the text. It is also for those who live somewhere else in the world (besides Drake and Freedom, Missouri, USA) and would simply like a further study of the text. It was meant to get these different groups of people to start thinking about the biblical texts. Part of the reason for this blog is that I am not able to have a bible class on Sunday mornings with either congregation, and so, to have a blog like this seemed like a good idea. I hope it is helpful for you, in whatever situation you may be.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read this!

April 22nd, 2017

4/22/2017

1 Comment

 
Please don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that John 20:31 is one of the most important passages in the scriptures. And it's in the text for this time. It's also a verse that essentially a book could be written about. (I recently heard the comment that "lots of ink has been spilled" over something, and, within that context, I actually thought that it was a cute picture to visualize, but there is no way I would use it here; this verse is much too important. All the ink--or toner--used would be worth it.)

I will give the verse to you here in a somewhat literal fashion, but hopefully you are already somewhat familiar with it: "...these things have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in order that, believing, you may have life in his name." There is, literally, so much here.

Where to begin? How about with one of the smallest words, "you"? The writer didn't say "lot's of people"; he used a direct pronoun. In a way, he is talking to the person who is reading or listening to the text.

But, also, in a way, he isn't. The form of "you" here is plural. In a way--in a very different way--he is saying, "y'all". He is talking to a group.

And that is a good reminder that this book doesn't promote a "me and Jesus" relationship. If you are by yourself, the devil can attack in lots of different ways, and he can certainly use your old sinful nature as his "trusty assistant". This verse sounds like it was meant to be read among a group.

And another issue is whether or not there is a "sigma"--the Greek letter "s"--in the phrase (actually it's just one word in Greek) "you may believe". With the letter, it sounds as if this account was addressed to non-Christians so that they might come to believe. Without the letter, it sounds as if this account was addressed to Christians so that their faith might be strengthened. That's certainly a lot of pressure on one letter! And there are old manuscripts both with and without this letter.

If you noticed, the way I translated it above was somewhat vague, "that you may believe...." I didn't want to confuse things there, but here I will state that I think it should be translated, "that you may continue to believe..."

The gospel accounts were written for use in the synagogues among the earliest Christians. They were treated with great reverence, much in the same way as the Old Testament was treated. The earliest Christians didn't have the money to give out gospel accounts like tracts. Paper was extremely expensive. And, as I have said before, they crafted these accounts very carefully. They wanted to make sure that they focused on Jesus.

I also wanted to say that I think we so easily pass by the part at the end, that we have life in his name. Notice that the pressure isn't on us to do something. We receive something here that is very special. The disciples showed us, in many and various ways, how what they did didn't amount to very much.

Ending on a positive (godly) note, is a much better thing. There's another chapter in this account, but I will save that for another time--and, by the way, it also focuses on Jesus.
1 Comment
Violet Payne link
6/9/2022 09:42:05 am

Thhanks for sharing

Reply



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