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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

October 21st, 2017

10/21/2017

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​One of the verses from the text for this Sunday, Matthew 22:15 is an extremely interesting one when compared to the other, similar gospel accounts. The verse reads in this way (in the ESV): 'Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his talk.'

The most similar verse in Mark (12:13) reads this way: 'And they [the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, cf. 11:27] sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.' And the most similar verse in Luke is 20:20: 'So they [the scribes and the chief priests] watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authorities.

There are many ways to trap animals. There are many ways to trap people. How did Jesus' enemies want to trap him? Any way they could!

In the same way that Jesus had a significant amount of authority on earth, the writers of the gospel accounts, each in their own way, point to that authority within each one's particular account. Matthew emphasizes Jesus' authority as a human being; Mark emphasizes Jesus' authority as a lion, 'the king of the jungle'; Luke emphasizes Jesus authority as an ox, a 'workhorse'. These connections have been emphasized for many centuries (and unfortunately have been overlooked in recent times).

The dictionary I was using (BDAG) made what I believe to be strong connections between the word used and the symbol of authority.

In Matthew they want to 'entangle' Jesus. This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament, and it appears in the Old Testament, in the Greek translation, in Ecclesiastes 9:12, describing a trap or snare. This kind of trap is based on intelligence. The person setting the trap sets out something he or she thinks is appropriate to catch the desired object.

In Mark they want to 'trap' Jesus. Again, this is the only time this word is used in the entire New Testament. It is used in a secular writing to describe a hostile force approaching someone in stealth and catching them off guard. This essentially contains the word 'surprise'. And all the members of the cat family are pretty good at this. And sometimes that is the best way to catch someone (who might be smarter than you).

In Luke they want to 'catch' Jesus. The most common use of the word 'catch' describes the action of grasping or taking hold of something. While it obviously can be used to describe catching something, it can also be used to describe the action of taking hold of something to make it one's own. This fits with Jesus being the obedient worker for his heavenly Father.

The great thing is that Jesus is eventually wanting to be caught, trapped, entangled--there, on the cross, he is for us. And his authority today still matters--especially those who consider themselves caught, trapped, etc.
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