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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

May 13th, 2023

5/13/2023

0 Comments

 
This Sunday is named ‘The Sixth Sunday of Easter’, and with that name you probably can tell that we are nearing the end of the Easter season. The Gospel reading for this Sunday [John 14:15-21] continues right after the previous week’s text, and in much the same way, our study continues in the Gospel according to Matthew, right after the previous text.

Last week’s writing ended the second of the five sermons within this account. The point was brought up that there is a structure to the sermons of Jesus that helps us to focus on the oft-overlooked midpoint of a text. This may help us to see a beautifully intricate message within the text.

As the previous non-sermon section of this gospel account put some emphasis on a ‘then’ section of the text—which, by the way, may also function as a type of midpoint—that introductory word may also be found in this section, but this time in more than one place. The following, somewhat-literal translation will go until after the first ‘then’ [Matthew 11:1-24]:

And it happened when he ended, the Jesus, directing to the twelve disciples of him, he removed from there to teach and to proclaim in the cities of them.
Now the John, hearing in the prison the works of the Christ, sending through the disciples of him, he said to him, ‘You, yourself, are the coming one, or another may we expect?’

And, answering, the Jesus said to them, ‘Going, report to John the things which you hear and you see. Blind men see again, and lame men walk, lepers are cleansed, and deaf men hear, and dead men are raised, and poor men are evangelized. And blessed is whoever is not scandalized in me.’

Now these, going, he began, the Jesus, to say to the crowds about John, ‘What you went out into the wilderness to behold, a reed by wind being shaken? But on the contrary, what you went out to see, a man in soft material having been clothed? Behold, the ones, the soft material wearing, in the houses of the kings, they are. But on the contrary, what you went out to see, a prophet? Yes, I am saying to you, and more of a prophet. This is he about whom it has been written: Behold, I myself am sending out the messenger of me before face of you, who will prepare the way of you before you.’

‘Amen, I am saying to you, not has arisen in those born of women, a greater of John the Baptist. Now the lesser in the kingdom of the heavens, greater of he is he. Now from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is violently treated, and violent men seize it. For all the prophets and the law until John, they prophesied. And if you are willing to receive, he himself is Elias, the one about to come. The one having ears, let him hear.’

‘Now to what will I compare the generation, this? Like it is to children, sitting in the marketplaces who, calling to the others, they say, “We piped to you and not you danced; we lamented and not you mourned.” For he came, John, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “A demon he has.” He came, the Son of the Man, eating and drinking, and they say, “Behold, a man, gluttonous and a wine drinker, of tax collectors a friend and of sinners.” And it was justified, the wisdom, by the works of her.’

Then he began to reproach the cities in which it happened, the very many powerful things of him, because not they repented: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin; woe to you, Bethsaida, because if in Tyre and Sidon they happened, the powerful things, the having happened in you, long ago in sackcloth and ashes they would have repented. However, I am saying to you, for Tyre and Sidon more tolerable it will be in day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, not until heaven were you exalted? As far as hades you shall descend; because if in Sodom they happened, the powerful things, the having happened in you, it would have remained until the today. However, I am saying to you that in land of Sodom more tolerable it will be in day of judgment than for you.’

The important events that were brought up from the last non-sermon section were a somewhat-oblique reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection. What helped to get the attention of those two things was an historical present, and there has been no historical present in this chapter so far.

At the very beginning of this text, there is a somewhat hidden reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection in the very beginning of this section, that Jesus went out to teach and proclaim. Note that the text does NOT say that Jesus went out and did lots of miracles.
We can see this emphasis on the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection a bit more clearly on with his ‘to do’ list of things that he gives to the disciples of John, with the last thing on that list is that he evangelizes the poor. Note that the item immediately before that is that he raises the dead. What could be better than that? Something that gives ETERNAL life.

This is connected to what Jesus was ‘anointed’ to do. Note also near the beginning of the text above that John hears about the works of the ‘Christ’. Perhaps he was hoping for a miracle that would allow him to get out of prison.
​

At the beginning of the last paragraph above is the first ‘then’ of the text. How is this first ‘then’ a midpoint? It will be clearer in the weeks to come, but this may be considered a type of reaction to the death and resurrection of Jesus. There are some who are unrepentant. They have chosen to place their trust in their own ‘miracles’. (This is not a great point on which to end, but if you would like to go farther into the biblical text, there is some definitely good news ahead.)
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    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