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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

September 24th, 2022

9/24/2022

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The Old Testament text for this Sunday is, like last week’s reading, from Amos [6:1-7]. And besides reiterating the importance of looking closely at the beginning of an ancient book, last week the significance of the number one was considered when it came to the two big issues of sin and a Savior.

It was also the case that the numbers three, four, six, and seven were said to be important numbers. The week before that was a look at the beginning of the book of Ezekiel, and the four living creatures were studied there in some detail. Some of the differences of the order of the living creatures were also just briefly discussed. The order of the living creatures in the book of Revelation was part of that focus.

At the end of next month, there will be another look at the book of Revelation, on Reformation Sunday. The first reading will be from there, and it will also be the source of the reading for the Sunday after that. Given those two factors, it may be helpful to study, in greater detail, some of the possible connections between the four living creatures and the four gospel accounts, especially in the different ways in which they are described, such as when they are brought up in Revelation.

Before tackling that big issue, it may be helpful to see just some of the confusion that has come up between the connections of the four living creatures and the four gospel accounts. This is not a recent connection, but it has existed from almost the beginning.
The Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament on the book of Revelation [by Grant R. Osborne; published by Baker Academic of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002; page 233] has an excellent footnote that summarizes some of this confusion. What follows are the different connections made by some of the early church fathers. To be helpful, the order of the living creatures below is that of Ezekiel 1 and that of the four gospel accounts.

           IRENAEUS
            MAN                MATTHEW
            LION                JOHN
            OX                   LUKE
            EAGLE            MARK              (This happens to be the order of Codex D.)

           VICTORINUS
            MAN                MATTHEW
            LION                MARK
            OX                   LUKE
            EAGLE            JOHN               (This is, of course, the normal order.)

            AUGUSTINE
            MAN                MARK
            LION                MATTHEW
            OX                   LUKE
            EAGLE            JOHN

            ATHANASIUS
            MAN                MATTHEW
            LION                LUKE
            OX                   MARK
            EAGLE            JOHN

Some of this confusion is to be expected, since every time the four living creatures are mentioned in the scriptures, they are given in a different order. It was stated previously that some of this confusion is also because of a connection made to the living creature using a point that is at the BEGINNING of a gospel account. A more detailed look at the connections all along in the gospel account to the living creature may therefore be helpful.

If there were just one account of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, his life would probably be seen as simply an act in history. If there were twelve different accounts of his life, each written by one of the twelve disciples, those accounts would probably be seen as a bit of a competition among his disciples. But if there are four, then those accounts might just be seen as something that is to go to the ends of the earth, in all directions, with this good news of salvation. 
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