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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

December 11, 2016

12/11/2016

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​Sometimes a text can have a lot more in it when you look at the text around it. The text I've been looking at recently is the focus on John the Baptist that comes after he's in prison (Matthew 11).

The discussion usually focuses on why John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to Jesus. Did he send them for his benefit, because he was doubting, or was it for the benefit of his disciples, in the hope that they would eventually follow Jesus instead? This is another of those situations where it could easily be both.

It may help to notice that the text (11:2) says, "Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ...." Notice that it doesn't say, "Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of JESUS...." The Christ is someone who's anointed, and the last time that Christ was anointed, John the Baptist was doubting Jesus' decision-making then as well. John thought that he should be baptized by Jesus, but Jesus wanted it the other way around.

That may be a bit comforting for us, that John the Baptist could also make mistakes.

And it may be a bit intellectual to propose what others have previously pointed out, that Jesus, in the previous section of narrative, is healing people in three sets of three, and in between each set is some of Jesus' teaching. That's quite an interesting structure, almost too much to be a coincidence. I think it's a nice reminder of the Trinity.

Matthew 11 could be John's suggestion of a good tenth miracle for Jesus to do. That's a nice, even number. It makes sense that John would think that he could be more helpful out of prison. Not this time though.

Jesus wanted a sinner's baptism. Jesus wanted John to be left in prison. I think I see a pattern working here.

And at the end of the book, the reader hears two stories that are continuing to the present: 1) someone stole the body, and 2) Jesus actually appeared to his followers; he was very caring to them, and said he would be with them until the end. I prefer the second one.
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