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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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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 29th, 2017

4/29/2017

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​The Gospel text for this Sunday is well known for Jesus' appearance to his followers on the road to Emmaus. One problem is that the location of the town of Emmaus is basically a mystery. Another mystery is the name of the other person (not Cleopas). And it is interesting that the one name we do have, that of Cleopas, is short for Cleopatros, and this means 'famous father'.

Jesus sort of treats the two like little children when he says they are foolish and slow to believe all that has been written in (what we know as) the Old Testament, the scriptures. I think the most wonderful part of the text is when it says that he basically goes through the whole of the Old Testament--he mentions Moses and he says that ALL the prophets are included--and he says that these writers pointed to him as both a suffering and exalted savior.

I think that is extremely difficult for some people to get. For some the Bible focuses more on God (as a whole); for others, more on man (and his actions). Either way you go, you can easily end up with the implication that it is now up to the reader or listener to do something in response. And, depending on how optimistic a person is about their strength--whether spiritual, mental, or even physical--that response could be extremely varied.

The text focuses, rather, on how God became man in Jesus, and that savior went through an awful lot for people. God needed an actual race of people to be an actual man. He did not pick a very important race. Rather, he picked a very special race that showed his very special grace. So, because he was a man, he died, and because he was God, that death meant something significant for us.

It might be good to just sit back and enjoy the text and hear how, again and again, Jesus does something for the person who, unfortunately, is in the dark.

And you might want to marvel a bit at the two who end up going back to Jerusalem that night--about seven miles in the dark (and one of the possible Emmaus locations was NINETEEN miles away--some manuscripts do have 160 stadia as an option instead of 60; I don't know why this is not considered the more difficult reading and put within the text)!

What people sometimes do for Jesus these days....

What Jesus did for us in those days....
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