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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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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 31st, 2018

3/31/2018

0 Comments

 
I think that the Gospel according to Mark has a wonderfully appropriate ending. The last verse of the text for Easter Sunday—and of the entire account—goes this way (in the ESV): ‘And they [the women] went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.’
 
If you take the Gospel according to Mark as a whole, it is certainly an appropriate ending. The beginning of this account was just as abrupt.
 
Jesus had already grown up; there are just a few verses about John the Baptist and his immense popularity. When Jesus shows up, the heavens are ripped open, and he is called God’s Son. I think that even more important is the fact that Jesus starts to tell people to repent and believe in the gospel.
 
This is an extremely early quotation of what Jesus said. It is important to note that the word ‘gospel’ is extremely important to him.
 
The first verse of the entire account states that this is the BEGINNING of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is certainly not the end.
 
When this gospel account is in its normal spot as the second of the four accounts, this short ending is certainly appropriate. In some manuscripts, though, this gospel account is the last of the four.
 
With this account as the last of the four, the two apostles who wrote are first (Matthew and John), and then the two secretaries who wrote are second (Luke and Mark). Also, the longer account is put first, and that is the normal ordering as well for that time period.
 
Having the four accounts ordered in such a way makes some sense. It focuses your attention more on the reliability of the work as a whole. And it also makes some sense to have, at the end of such a massive work, a better ending than the women leaving the tomb and not saying anything to anyone.
 
The ending that appears in some manuscripts, 16:9-20, has components from the other gospel accounts, and that is okay as well. I would encourage you not to think of these four accounts as written by four people in four different areas throughout the Roman Empire to be read in front of four different churches.
 
The four different accounts are meant to be four different perspectives of an extremely gracious God. And THAT is a good point to end on for ANY Sunday of the year.
 
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