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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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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 28th, 2018

7/28/2018

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The first part of the Gospel text for this Sunday (Mark 6:45-56) could be called ‘Jesus Calms a Storm—Take 2’. A comparison to the previous calming of the storm [at the end of chapter 4] is important.

During the first storm, Jesus was asleep in the boat. That was not as bad as being separated from Jesus. Jesus seems to set up this situation this second time in a very ‘commanding’ way. Jesus MADE his disciples get into the boat. And then, as the text describes it, Jesus TOOK LEAVE of them.

As I have made connections to the end of this gospel account, I will do so again here. Jesus gave some commands before he left. Then he took leave of his disciples, his church. And the church is in, admittedly, a difficult situation. One might compare it to being in the middle of a battle.

The disciples think that, when they see Jesus, he is just a ghost. And that same word could be used in a resurrection account. Today’s church is accused of the same thing by others, that Jesus really did not rise from the dead; something like that would be impossible!

It is nice to hear that, when the disciples—not many, but ALL—when they ALL saw him, they were terrified, and NOW there is another ‘immediately’ here. (That word does not always come at the right time!) Jesus IMMEDIATELY speaks to them. He does not wait. He certainly does care.

And, then, there is the response. After the first calming, the text says that, literally, the disciples ‘feared a great fear (Mark 4:41)’. And what is the response this time? The ESV translates it as ‘utterly astounded (v. 51)’, but it is basically the same word as in Mark 3:21, when Jesus is described as ‘out of his mind’.

At the end of the first calming, the disciples are asking, ‘Who is this?’ At the second calming, they should have been able to answer that question.

Perhaps the reason that this gospel account was not too popular in the early church is because of its negative view toward the followers of Jesus. (I believe I read recently that more papyri have been found about the Gospel according to Thomas than the Gospel according to Mark!) All the gospel accounts focus on something much more important, but people can get easily distracted.

That the disciples do not answer the ‘who’ question this second time makes the following editorial comment completely appropriate. After the disciples were basically described as ‘crazy’, the text says it was because their hearts were hardened, and it was also because they did not understand about the multiplication of the loaves (v. 52).
​

Jesus is on an important journey. The disciples do not get it, and that is okay. He even meant to pass by them on the water (v. 48). That, also, would have been okay—only they see him, and he does not want to leave them in doubt (or, especially, fear). Jesus is on a critical journey, and he sees THAT journey all the way through.
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