PILGRIM LUTHERAN CHURCH
  • Home
  • About Us
    • What We Believe
    • History
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Bulletin
  • Contact

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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

March 04th, 2023

3/4/2023

0 Comments

 
This Sunday is the Second Sunday in Lent. As we continue in this Lenten season, we are in the so-called ‘A Series’, and these particular writings are a journey through the Gospel according to Matthew. These writings are currently within what is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus first had grabbed our attention at the beginning of that Sermon by laying out what groups of people are being blessed by God, with the last group being those who were hearing these words and being persecuted on account of Jesus (see Matthew 5:11-12). Then he began to speak of God in terms of ‘Father’, certainly a rare title within the Old Testament.

This movement away from the title ‘God’ to ‘Father’ continues within this sermon, and those two words will be given in bold in what follows. And what follows is the next section of the text, again in a somewhat-literal translation [Matthew 7:1-12]:

Do not Judge, that not you be judged. For in what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and in what measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Now why you see the chip, the one in the eye of the brother of you, now the in-your-eye beam you not consider? Or how will you say to the brother of you, Allow I throw out the chip out of the eye of you, and, behold, the beam in the eye of you? Hypocrite, throw out first out of the eye of you, the beam, and then you will see clearly to throw out the chip out of the eye of the brother of you.

Do not give the holy to the dogs, nor throw the pearls of you before the pigs, lest they trample them in the feet of them and, turning, they tear you. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For all the one asking receives, and the one seeking finds, and to the one knocking, it will be opened. Or who is from you, a man, whom will ask the son of him a bread, not a stone he will give to him? Or also a fish he will ask, not a snake he will give over to him? Therefore, if you, evil being, know gifts—good—to give to the children of you, how much more the Father of you, the One in the heavens, will give good things to the ones asking him. Therefore, all things as many as you wish, that they may do to you, the men, thus also you yourselves do to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

There has been some movement away from ‘God’ to ‘Father’, but the latter word only appeared once within this section. In the text above, Jesus speaks of a man having a son, but he does not call that man a father. Jesus is not only getting to the end of the sermon; he has a more important ‘Father figure’ to describe.

The lack of the special word ‘Father’ may also have something to do with the structure of this sermon, that there are seventeen uses of that word within the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and the middle word is the use of the word within what is known as the Lord’s Prayer.
​

The last use of the word ‘Father’ within the Sermon on the Mount is significantly different from the others. If you would like to look ahead, that verse is Matthew 7:21. But you can be sure it will be the focus for next week’s writing.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Us
    • What We Believe
    • History
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Bulletin
  • Contact