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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

February 10th, 2018

2/10/2018

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The last Sunday in Epiphany is always Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday where the focus is Jesus being transfigured or, as the Greek says it, ‘metamorphosed (I don’t think that is a new word)’. In simple words, Jesus is changed.
 
I think it is interesting that each gospel account has a different way to describe how Jesus looked. This year, in the Gospel according to Mark, his clothes are described as ‘intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them (ESV, 9:3).’ Matthew’s description could be connected to creation (17:2), while Luke’s could be connected to another person (9:29). And Mark’s description could be connected to, of all things, a CANDIDATE!
 
Since most of the media is talking about politics these days, I thought I would join in as well.
 
If I knew this before, I had forgotten it—that the word ‘candidate’ comes from the Latin word, ‘candidus’, meaning ‘white’. It described the white toga that candidates would wear when they ran for a political office in ancient Rome. (Since this gospel account was written in Rome, I would think that this is a deliberate connection.)
 
I hope no one thinks that the ancient Roman politicians were extremely nice people and that we have devolved into a very cruel and ‘heartless’ society. Politics has ALWAYS been political. (Et tu, Brute?)
 
I can imagine young senators wanting to get their toga the whitest so that they would literally stand out amongst the rest. I can also imagine those people paying a lot of money to do that.
 
But what is that compared to our Lord and how he looked on that day? Any talk about Jesus—or even simply God—helps to keep things in perspective.
 
In our two-party system in America, we depend on CIVIL conflict—since we are part of a civilized society, much like the Romans. The conflict between those two parties should often resolve itself into a positive outcome for many, if not all.
 
It might be nice sometimes to retreat to the mountains and have a vision of Jesus in his intensely white garments. But he certainly did not stay up there very long. And, when he finally came down from the mountain, went up to the cross, and then he went down into the tomb. There were a lot of things on his calendar!
 
After Jesus rose from the dead, many people who wanted to see him were not able—and that still is true today.
 
But his unique and precious promises also still hold true in today’s reality.
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