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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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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 18th, 2017

2/18/2017

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Obviously that small verse at the end of the text for this weekend gives people a lot of trouble. And I can see why. At Matthew 5:48, Jesus says, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

First of all, I'm not sure that it's helpful to have the word 'must' there. It's not in the original text. The text simply says, "You, therefore, be perfect...." The word 'must' certainly adds something to the text. When you add a word like 'must', then you can start to treat it like a 'should', and that's a completely different thought. (I, for one, think that the current translation of the Small Catechism, with the meanings of the Commandments, is a really bad one. Instead of 'We should fear and love God...," I would prefer, "We are to fear and love God....")

If you think that by these translations I'm making it even more difficult for us to do them, then you are exactly correct. The sooner we give up on trying to do these things, the better.

We definitely need some help to be perfect. And we can't get away from the meaning of the word 'perfect'. Although the Greek word can refer to attaining an end or purpose, it describes God. He didn't evolve toward an higher end or purpose after billions of years. He is and has always been perfect.

I should have said in the previous paragraph that this describes our heavenly FATHER. That's certainly a clue that God is willing and even eager to give out some gifts.

The Beatitudes near the end with saying that the pure in heart will see God and that the peacemakers will be called sons of God. I think that's also a significant clue to say where Jesus is headed with this insurmountable task. We need a lot of help, and, in church, we've come to the right place.

That could well be the theme of this entire account, even with all its sermons: Jesus is our Savior, our Rescuer. Near the middle of this sermon he's going to say to the disciples that they shouldn't be like the hypocrites who show off. At the end of this sermon he's going to call God 'HIS Father (not YOUR Father any more)', and he's also going to tell the disciples to listen to his words and do them. 

And so we continue to follow him. It's not too difficult to see where he's headed with this.
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