JESUS AND THE SABBATH DAY

We read in Luke 4:16: "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and,
as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to
read." We know from that passage, and elsewhere in the Gospels, that it was the
custom of Jesus to attend the synagogue on the Sabbath day. But, we also know that he
challenged the Pharisees on their concept of what obedience to the Fourth Command-
ment was. On several occasions he healed the sick on the Sabbath, and was severely
criticized by the Pharisees. On another day, his disciples were chastised for picking
corn to eat on the Sabbath. But Jesus defended their actions. He declared "The
sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." (Matthew 2:28)

One Bible verse that is of interest, and might make a good topic of discussion in a
Sunday School class is from John 9:16: "Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This
man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a
man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them."
What this verse shows us is that even Jesus was criticized for not keeping the
Sabbath in just the way the Pharisees had deemed correct. But we know now that
they were judging the very Son of God. Perhaps we might learn from this that it is
not up to us to decide whether or not people are sinning if they do not go to church,
or conduct any part of their lives in the way that our personal church beliefs would
dictate. We have no idea what is in a person's heart, or whether or not that heart is
open to God. Only God can judge. The apostle Paul would later write the
Colossians: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of
an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things
to come." (Colossians 1:16-17)

THE SABBATH AND THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

As we see from that quotation of Paul above, the new followers of Christ, the early
Christians, were being told that it was not necessary to follow the Jewish tradition
of the Sabbath. Paul was glimpsing that the old rituals were but "a shadow of things
to come," hinting that there was a better way of worshipping and communing with
God. Bible commentators point out that in Acts 15:20, 29, where Gentiles are being
told what would be required of them, the Sabbath was not included. We also know
that the early Christians at first worshipped on both the Jewish Sabbath and what is
known as the "Lord's Day." The Lord's Day is the term given to the first day of the
week -- Sunday -- which was when Jesus was resurrected. Over time, the Christians
saw that there were too many theological differences with the Jewish teachings, and
they eventually switched to the "Lord's Day" as the Christian day of worship. About
100 A.D., the first service book of the Christian church, "The Didache," the teaching
of the Twelve Apostles, included this: "On the Lord's Day come together, break
bread, and hold Eucharist."

In the middle of the second century, Justin Martyr provided us with a description of
what the Christians did at their service: "On the day called Sunday all who live in
cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles
or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits. Then, when the
reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of
these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we said before, when
our prayer is ended, bread and wine are brought, and the president in like manner
offers prayers and thanksgivings according to his ability, and the people assent,
saying Amen. There is a distribution to each and a participation in that over which
thanks has been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.
And they who are well-to-do and willing to do so give what each thinks fit. What is
collected is deposited with the president, who gives help to the orphans and widows,
and to those who through illness or any other cause are in want, and to those who are
in bonds, and to the strangers among us, and to all who are in need." (First Apology 67)

We can see that the early Christians were obeying the Fourth Commandment, if it is
interpreted as remembering to worship God. But, what about the Jewish explanation
that the Sabbath was to be a literal day of rest, as well? William Barclay, in his book
on "The Ten Commandments," explains (pg 22): "There is no doubt at all that from
the early second century onwards -- and perhaps even earlier -- the Lord's Day has
completely displaced the Sabbath, and that the two are never confused, and are even
contrasted with each other . . . There is no indication that the Lord's Day was a day
when all work was suspended. Simply on the grounds it could not have been. In the
very earliest days it was to the humbler members of society that the Christian faith
most appealed. It was obviously impossible for a servant, and still more for a slave,
to take a whole day off work in a pagan society."

There were other opinions about church worship at that time, as well. Barclay writes:
"Origen (AD 240) apologizes for the special observance of any day at all. The Sunday
is observed as a concession to the weaker brothers because they are either unable or
unwilling to keep every day in this way, and so require some visible reminders to
prevent spiritual things from passing altogether out of their minds."
("Against Celsus" 8.22.23)

Origen's sentiment would find common ground with those today who feel that church
organization and attendance is something that should eventually be out-grown in order
to worship and adore God on a more spiritual level, and to find rest in the reign of
God, our divine Principle, Love. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of
Christian Science wrote a number of statements suggesting that some day her followers
might want to leave "organized" church behind them. For instance, she writes: "The
Church, more than any other institution, at present is the cement of society, and it
should be the bulwark of civil and religious liberty. But the time cometh when the
religious element, or Church of Christ, shall exist alone in the affections, and need no
organization to express it." (Mis. 145) This was written over a century ago, so,
perhaps, the time has come.

THE PENDULUM SWINGS BACK AND FORTH

If the early church "powers that be" had only left the Fourth Commandment to
individual interpretation and practice, there is no telling where Christianity would
be now.

Christian Scientists are aware that Mrs. Eddy's original church was formed to
"reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." She also states
elsewhere that this healing ability was lost about three centuries after the crucifixion.
You will see from the historical tidbits described below, why the early Christians
may have lost their healing power. As William Barclay puts it (pg. 23): "Above all,
there was the increasing stress laid on the obligatory nature of the services of the
Church. The more the Church was organized, the more the Lord's Day became
specifically a 'religious' day."

First, we see that the church is becoming more organized, rather than based upon the
early voluntary associations of eager participants, who did or gave what they could.
Then, in 321 A.D., Constantine, the emperor of the Roman Empire who became a
Christian, passed an act requiring everyone to stop work on the Lord's Day (farmers
excepted). Now, we see Christianity being "legalized" by the state. Again, removing
it farther from the voluntary nature that Christianity should be.

Over the centuries, scholars such as Alcuin (A.D. 735-804) and Thomas Aquinas
(A.D. 1225-74) concluded that the Sabbath and the Lord's Day were one and the
same, and that work should cease on Sundays. According to Barclay, "this was a
complete reversal of the position of the early Church," and "it was not long before
the Church was drawing up as detailed Lord's Day prohibitions as ever the Pharisees
did."

Then the Reformers came along, and decided that the Lord's Day was not the same as
the Sabbath, and that the Jewish law was not to be obeyed by the Christians. Martin
Luther said that servants should have a day of rest, so they can hear God's word, but
that it is not important what day it was. Calvin stated: "The observance of days among
us is a free service and void of all superstition." The Reformers, too, saw the need for
a day of rest, but that it should be done freely and on any given day, and should not be
legally mandated.

The issue of the Sabbath, and whether or not Christians should observe it as a day of
rest from work, continued to be debated. But, then, the Puritans came to power, and
according to Barclay, "between 1644 and 1656 a series of ever more severe Sunday
Observance laws was passed." Again, the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord's Day had
become one.

The above historical summary was intended to show that whatever denomination you
are, and whatever its Sabbath traditions, very few can prove that those traditions can
be called "divinely authorized." Fallible humans are generally responsible for the
rules and rituals imposed upon the modern day Sabbath.

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