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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

January 22nd, 2022

1/22/2022

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This Sunday is the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, and the epistle readings continue in 1 Corinthians [12-31a], and we also continue to look at how Christianity was received in Rome, the center of the world at that time—a LOT more important than Corinth. The writing last week basically focused on the charges against St. Paul, one particularly unbiased perspective by the commander, and one particularly biased perspective by the attorney speaking on behalf of the Jewish leadership. (It should be noted that after the attorney’s accusation, the text says that the Jews were also claiming the things said by the attorney were true; see Acts 24:9).

What follows is the defense of St. Paul. It is a bit longer than the accusations, and it may be helpful to compare it with other translations that you might have handy, since what follows is a somewhat-literal translation:

Of many years you being a judge to this nation, understanding cheerfully the things concerning myself, I defend myself, you being able to know fully that there are to me not more than twelve days from which I went up, worshiping into Jerusalem.

And neither in the temple they found me with anyone dialoguing or onset [riot] making of a crowd, neither in the synagogues nor throughout the city, nor are they able to prove to you the things of which they now accuse me.

But I confess this to you, that according to The Way which they say ‘a sect’, thus I worship the ancestral God, believing all the things having been written according to the Law and the things in the Prophets, having hope toward God, which also these themselves expect, to be a resurrection to be both of righteous and unrighteous.

In this also I train myself to have a blameless conscience to have toward God and men through all.

And, after many years, making alms to the nation, I arrived and offerings, in which they found me, having been purified in the temple, not with a crowd nor with a disturbance, but some Jews from Asia, whom it was necessary before you to be present and to accuse if anything they have against me.

Or let these themselves say which misdeeds they found, while standing before the Council, unless concerning this one voice which I have cried out among them while standing: Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged today before you [Acts 24:10b-21].

What is important here? When a person is making a defense, all of it is important. The speaker is a master at language, and it definitely shows.

What is interesting is that the resurrection is mentioned twice, once near the middle and once at the end. How much near the middle? The speech of St. Paul, at least in the Greek text used here, is one hundred and ninety-nine words—perhaps he had a two-hundred-word limit to his defense. :-) And the one hundred and first word is resurrection. Obviously the people hearing St. Paul on that day were not counting his words, but some of them were ‘counting’ his words as important. And repetition is very important when you want to get an important point across.

Bringing up the resurrection means that Someone else is in control of things, whether you want to obey that Deity or not. God could show us every day that he still has all the power in heaven and earth. But he decided to show that power in sending his Son to do something amazing for us.

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