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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

March 24th, 2018

3/24/2018

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The Gospel text for this Sunday, Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion, is a huge one—essentially chapters 14 and 15 of the Gospel according to Mark. It is like going into one of those Global Market stores and seeing various foods from all over the world (It just so happened that I did that today). Which ones should be my focus this time? Which one is going to be the best? (In some way, they all became famous enough to make it there!)
 
Unfortunately some people have the idea that the Gospel according to Mark is early and basic, that the more interesting details were added later. Voelz, in his Concordia Commentary, differs from this view significantly. Yes, when a message is just starting out, it may tend to be shorter. But also when a critical event happens, in an emergency, then a message also tends to be significantly shorter. When time is important, you say what is important.
 
There has been a significant amount of attention given to something unique to this account—that a young man who has been following Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane, when grabbed by the authorities, runs away, leaving his ‘linen garment’ (14:51-52).
 
Some people think that this is Mark. That would make sense. But rather than going in the direction of source—who this young man is, I would rather go in the direction of deity—now what does this mean for Jesus, the so-called ‘Son of God’?
 
This young man in Mark 14 has been compared to the young man in Mark 16 who appears at Jesus’ tomb (on his right, interestingly enough) and tells the women what happened to him. But the one in the tomb has on a white robe.
 
One other person has on the same ‘linen garment’; it is Jesus, and he was wrapped in it after he died.
 
It is interesting that he is called a corpse at that time. But that will only be true for a very short time.
 
Both men are seized; both men are wrapped in a ‘linen garment’, and both men escape. There is too much in common to be a coincidence.
 
The act of being seized—and the basic word used here means ‘strength’—is a significant one. Jesus has acted like the second living creature, the lion, pretty much all through this account. Now his enemies have shown some strength and fought back, but, ultimately, they fail. And now Jesus has the upper hand—quite literally, if you think about it.

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