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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

July 08th, 2017

7/8/2017

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​When Jesus says in the text for this Sunday (from Matthew 11), 'Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,' there can be a wide variety of interpretations. At the heart of the matter is the meaning of that little word, 'Come'.

The disagreement comes in the amount of effort that the human being puts into it. Lutherans are accused of adding something to the text when they say that we really cannot come to Jesus, that we need help to do such a thing.

The answer to that accusation of adding something to the text is to see the text within a much greater and much more clearer context. When Jesus is saying a word, who is really saying it and to whom is he really saying it? Those are important questions.

I hope you do not mind me referencing a chapter in Acts, but I believe Acts 15 is a very important chapter when it comes to understanding any command of Jesus like the one above. In that chapter, the followers of Jesus are trying to decide if all followers of Jesus should be circumcised, like all the Jews have been basically since that race started.

It was decided that, since circumcision was considered an unbearable yoke by past generations, it was understood in a different way. In light of all that had happened recently, it was understood as the action of God cleansing a person's heart from sin by faith. Did you see the significant switch that just happened? A person fulfills a command by God doing something instead of that person!

By the way, that is the way I understand the four prohibitions that are listed later in the chapter. These four prohibitions are fulfilled by Jesus in the four gospel accounts.

So when Jesus says 'Come,' he makes it possible for me to come. When he says, 'Take my yoke,' he makes it possible for me to take his yoke. This is not adding anything to the text. This involves telling people who Jesus really is.

This is being clear regarding the Law. This is being clear regarding the Gospel. This is what it means to be Lutheran.
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