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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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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 28th, 2023

1/28/2023

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This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, and it starts the look at the first sermon of Jesus according to the perspective of this gospel account, what is known as the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5:1-12]. Last Sunday’s text gave an extensive introduction to that sermon, and it may be helpful to go over that again. (It also was the text for last Sunday, the text between the temptation of Jesus, that what was covered in the previous weeks with this writing, and that which is this week.)

Here is Matthew 4:12-25, in a somewhat-literal translation (and it only contains one historical present; can you spot it?):

Now hearing that John was delivered up, he [Jesus] withdrew into the Galilee. And having left the Nazareth, coming, he settled into Capernaum, the ‘beside-the-sea’, in districts of Zebulon and Naphthali, in order that might be fulfilled the spoken through Isaiah, the prophet, saying: ‘Land of Zebulon and land of Naphthali, way of sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, the people, the ones sitting in darkness, saw a great light, and to the ones sitting in a region and shadow of death, light sprang up to them.
From then, the Jesus began to proclaim and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come near.’

Now walking beside the sea of the Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, the one called Peter, and Andrew, the brother of him, throwing a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he says to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Now, they, immediately, leaving the nets, followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the one of Zebedee and John, the brother of him, in the boat with Zebedee, the father of them, mending the nets of them, and he called them. Now, they, immediately, leaving the boat and the father of them, followed him.

And he went around the whole Galilee, teaching in the synagogues of them and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing all disease and all weakness in the people. And went the report of him into all the Syria, and they brought to him all the ill, having various diseases and suffering torments, demon-possessed and lunatics and paralytics, and he healed them. And followed him, many crowds, from the Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and beyond the Jordan.

There is obviously a lot within the above text. And there are some small hints within that text that not all the information has equal weight. Something important is ahead of Jesus. A couple of times the above paragraphs begin with ‘Now’. And the last paragraph begins with ‘And’.

There is a lot with that second, very short paragraph. That paragraph starts with a very rare beginning, ‘From then….’ Within this short paragraph is the only time that the name Jesus is mentioned within this section, when it comes to the most reliable manuscripts. The message that Jesus gives within this paragraph is not unique; it is the same one as John the Baptizer (see Matthew 3:2). But this is the message that Jesus BEGAN to speak. He will be speaking a lot more in just a few verses. And the very next time the phrase, ‘From then’ is used, there will be some important, additional information (see Matthew 16:21).
​

Perhaps you found the only historical present within the above text, in the following paragraph. Jesus SAYS to Simon and Andrew to follow him. And that is what a man does. But things are significantly different when it comes to Jesus. That will be seen as we continue with the text.
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