In one final attempt to cover the very important question of how to "Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy," I thought I would go over some basic line of questioning: according to Scripture, what IS the Sabbath, and thus, how can we "keep it holy?"
Next week I will talk about what this all means in a practical sense, giving tips and tricks for making your Sabbath go smoothly, but today I will strive to simply answer that question: What is it, how can we keep it?
I first heard this teaching back in the late 90s from a protestant pastor named Bruce Ray, who wrote the book: "Celebrating the Sabbath, finding rest in a restless world." It 's interesting to note that, as I've said before, we Christians make a distinction between "The Sabbath" and "The Lord's Day." Both serve the same function, but one is CLEARLY biblically mandated to be on Saturday, and the other is CLEARLY mandated (both biblically and historically, by the authority of the Church) to be on Sunday.
Thus, the Church and the Church alone, in her authority, has transferred the "binding" elements of Sabbath Day Observance to Sunday, the Lord's Day, from Saturday, the Hebrew Sabbath.
Thus, the Church and the Church alone, in her authority, has transferred the "binding" elements of Sabbath Day Observance to Sunday, the Lord's Day, from Saturday, the Hebrew Sabbath.
In other words, if protestants are observing a "Sunday" Sabbath and not a "Saturday" Sabbath, it is ONLY because they received it from the authority of the Catholic Church, and says that in some way they DO accept the authority of the Church. Otherwise, they should, indeed, become Seventh Day Adventists or Messianics, and observe a Saturday Sabbath. There is no good reason to observe a Sunday Sabbath unless you, in some way, accept the authority of the Catholic Church to CHANGE the Sabbath to the Lord's Day, the day of the Resurrection, the "NEW" Sabbath for the "NEW" Covenant, as I will explain later. This is a very important, key point, that I think needs to be addressed in context with the teaching I'm about to share.
I would also like to point out that yes, the NT shows the apostles "keeping" the Saturday Sabbath. It ALSO shows them keeping the Lord's Day. Ancient Christian history, as evidenced by the writings of the Church Fathers, shows them observing the Lord's Day.
The reason Christians today observe a Sunday Sabbath is because it was determined (wether by Christ Himself in an undisclosed / lost revelation to the apostles or simply by the Holy Spirit present in the discernment of the apostles, that we needed a Christ-centered Sabbath to go with all the other Christ-centered replacements for OT ordinances we now enjoy in the Church. (More on that later.)
The point, I think, is that we understand that from scripture alone we can only conclude that they did, indeed, appear to be present at Sabbatine events, and we can only theorize the whys and wherefores.... it could very well be that they were in the synagogue together on Saturday because that was the best place to evangelize from! Scripture is absolutely NOT conclusive on the matter of what a believer in Jesus is supposed to do if he wants to obey the commandment to "honor the Sabbath and keep it Holy." We ALL need tradition to understand what that entails.
The point, I think, is that we understand that from scripture alone we can only conclude that they did, indeed, appear to be present at Sabbatine events, and we can only theorize the whys and wherefores.... it could very well be that they were in the synagogue together on Saturday because that was the best place to evangelize from! Scripture is absolutely NOT conclusive on the matter of what a believer in Jesus is supposed to do if he wants to obey the commandment to "honor the Sabbath and keep it Holy." We ALL need tradition to understand what that entails.
There are Four Separate Sabbath themes in Scripture. I will cover each one, and then we will see if they do not all fit together into some kind of full picture of what the Sabbath means for the follower of Jesus (who most Messianics will call by His Hebrew name: Yeshua. Because I am writing these Sabbath blogs primarily for a Messianic audience as well as my usual Catholic and Protestant readership, I will address him as "Yeshua" in this blog- I'm sure He won't mind, since that was how He was called when He walked among us. :P)
THE CREATION SABBATH.
Exodus 20:8 exhorts us to "Remember" the Sabbath and keep it holy. This implies that we know what the Sabbath IS. So what is the Sabbath referred to in Ex 20?
Exodus 20:11 (King James Version)
11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
From this we can see that the Sabbath was present AT Creation: that the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it. Now let's look a little further into that.
Genesis 2:1-3 (King James Version)
1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
The Lord God blessed the day, and made it holy, "sanctified it," Not for himself but for man and woman. (See Mark 2:27) Therefore, THIS Sabbath, the Creation Sabbath, is binding upon ALL men and women, not just israelites. This is the Creation Sabbath, which was instituted at Creation by God for all people.
THE EXODUS SABBATH (or Redemption Sabbath)
In the book of Deuteronomy, otherwise known as the "Second Law," we are given the commandments again. This time, the wording is very different for the Sabbath Keeping commandment. We are told, not to "remember," but to "observe" the Sabbbath and keep it holy. Does this mean that the Sabbath is different from the original Sabbath we are commanded to "remember?" Deuteronomy 5:15, the very next section, answers this question for us:
Deuteronomy 5:15 (King James Version)
15And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
We are to remember the Sabbath from Creation AND now, in addition, to remember our redemption and deliverance. Suddenly the Sabbath becomes a very personal thing for a specific group of people: the israelites. Thus it is true that in Exodus 31:12-17, the Sabbath becomes, as it says: a "Sign of the Covenant."
Exodus 31:12-17 (King James Version)
12And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
13Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
14Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
It is a sign of salvation and dependance on God. ALL people are required to acknowledge God as the creator, and thus keep the Creation Sabbath. But only Israel could claim the special meaning of the Sabbath as a reminder of their redemption and deliverance.
Like the Creation Sabbath, this was to be a day of REST and CELEBRATION. It was a holy day: the number of sacrifices in the tabernacle (later temple) were doubled, (morning and evening) and so was the amount of prayer/worship, which went throughout the day. (see Num 28:1-10 and 1 Chron 16:39-40.) This was NOT the grumpy, severe, and overintense Sabbath that modern day Christians imagine when reading about the restrictions created by Rabbis and teachers. No. This was pure joy:
Psalm 92:1-5
a song, a psalm for Sabbath day.1IT IS A GOOD THING TO GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, AND TO SING PRAISES UNTO THY NAME, O MOST HIGH:
2To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
3Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.
4For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
5O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
Creation and Redemption, then are the Hebrew Roots of the Sabbath Day, roots which will, through the New Covenant, be watered, see flower and fruit.
THE RESURRECTION SABBATH (or the Christian Sabbath)
Hebrews 4:9 says that in the new covenant, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God. This resurrection Sabbath I'm about to explain, then, is a sign of the new creation and new covenant. There is a unity and continuity between the old and new covenants.... and yet, there is definitely something NEW, because all of the old covenant, we can agree, is created as a guidepost to point us towards their fulfillment, which we find in the Messiah, Yeshua.
Some of the old Covenant signs which were transformed in the new (I will cover some of these in future Theology Thursdays) :
-circumcision became baptism.
-the passover became the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist.
-the old covenant temple became the new covenant temple, the body.
thus, we can see clearly that it would not be a stretch for the old covenant sabbath to become the new covenant Sabbath: the Lord's Day.
We know that "Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever."
(Hebrews 13:8) so we can assert that while this is a change in the application or practice, it is not necessarily a change in the "heart" of the law... the Sabbath was, is and will be "The Lord's Day." He instituted the Sabbath at Creation, appointed it as a sign of the Covenant in the commandments, and again gave it to us as a sign of His redemptive grace. Since Jesus IS One with God, the Father, He IS the "I AM" (Ex 3:14, John 8:56, 58) and therefore Lord of the Sabbath.
The meaning of the appointed day, then, was and is the same: In Christ alone can Rest be found.
THE FINAL SABBATH.
The Resurrection Sabbath is not the final sabbath for the Lord's people. There is still one more sabbath, which as the Lord's Supper, which combines elements of "memorial" and elements of "expectation," the Final Sabbath will take the previous elements and add to their significance for us.
Hebrews 4 is the place we turn to read of the Final Sabbath. As Bruce Ray puts it:
"Many people who had the good news preached to them while wandering in the desert (exodus) failed to enter into the rest promised by God because of their disobedience. (verse 6) They had sinful, unbelieving hearts that turned away from the living God.(3:12)and the word they heard was of no value to them because it was not united or combined with faith. (4:2) Their example of failing to enter Canaan shows us that we can come CLOSE to the rest promised by God without actually entering into it. There is a road to Hell, even from the gates of heaven.The PROFESSION of faith is not the same as the POSESSION of faith."
Over and over, we hear God tell us that He is describing HIS Rest, not our own. This rest is not the fruit of our own accomplishments or the rest of our own making. It can be found only in HIM, through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:8 clearly tells us that there REMAINS a Sabbath rest for God's people... a definitive rest from OUR Works and IN His Works. This future rest is the eternal Sabbath Rest. BOTH the first Sabbath AND the "Lord's Day" are pointing to this truth. Hebrews 4 tells us that there remains a Sabbath-Rest. Not a Sabbath, a Sabbath-Rest. It is very specific, and a coined term. it is this REST which remains for us... through the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, and eventually the FINAL day. Sabbath-keeping, then, is the action of purposely seeking God's rest.
This day is a witness. The observation of the Saturday Sabbath was and is a witness to the world of the Covenant of God with the Israelites. The observation of the Lord's Day was and is a witness to the world of one's Christianity... of the Resurrection of Our Lord. We can expect a final Day. This is why we read in Acts 17:31 that God "has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead."
So to wrap it up: There are four "biblical" sabbaths mentioned in scripture.... the Creation Sabbath, the Exodus Sabbath, the Resurrection Sabbath, and the Final Sabbath.
Now, here's where it gets REALLY interesting. As I have said before, the Catholic Church declared that the Christian Sabbath is on the day of Our Lord (the Lord who is Lord of the Sabbath)'s ressurection. Thus, we keep our Sabbath on Sundays. As Catholics, we must dedicate the day to worship, good deeds, and study. We may not work, we must rest. We must attend mass. The entire day is hallowed.
However, Catholics in traditional families know a little secret that lots of people may have missed. :)
Fridays, we prepare for the Sabbath. We stop eating meat. It seems to be a small gesture, but for many of us, it's a powerful fast that serves to remind us that all of our activities of the day are geared towards preparing for the day of Rest and remembering God in our sins. But it doesn't stop there! Saturdays, we know, are dedicated to Our Lady. Thus we attend mass if we can, and we pray a family rosary, read some scripture together and go to confession together, right? This also, again, serves as a preparation for our Sabbath celebration.
In fact, those of us who come from the family of Carmel, who wear the brown scapular, know of something more: the Sabbatine privilege. What's interesting to ME about the Sabbatine privilege is it's name. "the Privelege of the Sabbath." It originated from a vision received by a pope circa 1322, in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Him to tell him that she recommended the Carmelite order to him. She said that to those who wore the brown scapular, and lived what amounts to a carmelite life, she would liberate from purgatory on the Saturday following their death. The exact wording, taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia, is as follows:
"It is permitted to the Carmelite Fathers to preach that the Christian people may piously believe in the help which the souls of brothers and members, who have departed this life in charity, have worn in life the scapular, have ever observed chastity, have recited the Little Hours [of the Blessed Virgin], or, if they cannot read, have observed the fast days of the Church, and have abstained from flesh meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays (except when Christmas falls on such days), may derive after death — especially on Saturdays, the day consecrated by the Church to the Blessed Virgin — through the unceasing intercession of Mary, her pious petitions, her merits, and her special protection."
So what does this mean? Incredibly, it means that heaven has decreed that in addition to our "normal" Christian life (Mass on Sundays and Holy days, etc) if we pray, are chaste, fast and do good deeds, and honor the Blessed Virgin and Our Lord Yeshua every day but especially on Saturdays, we are eligible for this wonderful privilege from heaven. Amazing. Therefore traditional Christians and in particular Carmelite Catholics DO observe a "Sabbath" of sorts on Saturday as well as the Lord's Day... the Sabbatine Privilege, a day of mental and spiritual preparation for the enormity of what we celebrate on Sundays. Along with every practicing Jew who walks the earth, we spend the day remembering God's creation, observing certain spiritual practices to commemorate His redemption and calling on our lives, and preparing for the blessed day that the Messiah is revealed to us as who He really is. HOW we do that may look different, but the core purpose is the same.
Further study is actually quite astonishing. Plain as day we learn that most Christians in the beginning observed the Saturday Sabbath-- to some degree--and then ALSO the Lord's Day, abstaining from work both days and being found teaching in the synagogue and gathering together for prayer.
Over time, as the Church grew from its purely Hebrew nucleus to the gentile giant that it has become, the Saturday Sabbath practice was lost. The New advent Encyclopedia entry on the Sabbath says that the practice of observing both to some degree... making Sunday the "ultimate" day of worship but not neglecting to acknowledge and reflect/rest/keep holy the Saturday Sabbath, was removed from Church practice with the decline of Jewish Christians who kept their own (biblical, hebrew) culture. In other words, had more and more HEBREW converts come,and maintained their identity as Hebrew Catholics rather than assimilate into other cultures present within the Church, we would be still practicing some type of Saturday acknowledgement/rest. Instead, the Hebrew Catholics lost this cultural, jewish "presence" within the Church, and a hardening of the non-Christian Jewish heart towards Yeshua occurred... and the remaining faction, who were in no way obligated to keep the Saturday Sabbath as a sign of the covenant for they were a people of the New Covenant, continued to fulfill the Sabbath-keeping commandment on the appointed Lord's Day. For He died on the Friday and lay in the tomb on the Saturday Sabbath, representing the death of the Law, but was raised again on the Sunday, when we recieve new life. (This is traditional Church teaching... I'm still reading about this subject-- the Friday/3 days in the tomb thing. Nevertheless, I see this as a sign to us as well.)
This is why a good traditional Catholic examination of conscience asks...."Did you remember to keep Sunday Holy? Did you attend mass and pray fervently? Did you refrain from all unnecessary work and refrain from buying and selling on Sunday?" We are a New Covenant people, with a New Sign: the Resurrection.
Again, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Sunday (Day of the Sun), as the name of the first day of the week, is derived from Egyptian astrology. The seven planets, known to us as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, each had an hour of the day assigned to them, and the planet which was regent during the first hour of any day of the week gave its name to that day (see CALENDAR). During the first and second century the week of seven days was introduced into Rome from Egypt, and the Roman names of the planets were given to each successive day. The Teutonic nations seem to have adopted the week as a division of time from the Romans, but they changed the Roman names into those of corresponding Teutonic deities. Hence the dies Solis became Sunday (German, Sonntag). Sunday was the first day of the week according to the Jewish method of reckoning, but for Christians it began to take the place of the Jewish Sabbath in Apostolic times as the day set apart for the public and solemn worship of God. The practice of meeting together on the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is indicated in Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; in Apocalypse 1:10, it is called the Lord's day. In the Didache (14) the injunction is given: "On the Lord's Day come together and break bread. And give thanks (offer the Eucharist), after confessing your sins that your sacrifice may be pure". St. Ignatius (Ep. ad Magnes. ix) speaks of Christians as "no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also Our Life rose again". In the Epistle of Barnabas (xv) we read: "Wherefore, also, we keep the eight day (i.e. the first of the week) with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead".
St. Justin is the first Christian writer to call the day Sunday (I Apol., lxvii) in the celebrated passage in which he describes the worship offered by the early Christians on that day to God. The fact that they met together and offered public worship on Sunday necessitated a certain rest from work on that day. However, Tertullian (202) is the first writer who expressly mentions the Sunday rest: "We, however (just as tradition has taught us), on the day of the Lord's Resurrection ought to guard not only against kneeling, but every posture and office of solicitude, deferring even our businesses lest we give any place to the devil" ("De orat.", xxiii; cf. "Ad nation.", I, xiii; "Apolog.", xvi).
These and similar indications show that during the first three centuries practice and tradition had consecrated the Sunday to the public worship of God by the hearing of the Mass and the resting from work. With the opening of the fourth century positive legislation, both ecclesiastical and civil, began to make these duties more definite. The Council of Elvira (300) decreed: "If anyone in the city neglects to come to church for three Sundays, let him be excommunicated for a short time so that he may be corrected" (xxi). In the Apostolic Constitutions, which belong to the end of the fourth century, both the hearing of the Mass and the rest from work are prescribed, and the precept is attributed to the Apostles. The express teaching of Christ and St. Paul prevented the early Christians from falling into the excesses of Jewish Sabbatarianism in the observance of the Sunday, and yet we find St. Cæsarius of Arles in the sixth century teaching that the holy Doctors of the Church had decreed that the whole glory of the Jewish Sabbath had been transferred to the Sunday, and that Christians must keep the Sunday holy in the same way as the Jews had been commanded to keep holy the Sabbath Day. He especially insisted on the people hearing the whole of the Mass and not leaving the church after the Epistle and the Gospel had been read. He taught them that they should come to Vespers and spend the rest of the day in pious reading and prayer. As with the Jewish Sabbath, the observance of the Christian Sunday began with sundown on Saturday and lasted till the same time on Sunday. Until quite recent times some theologians taught that there was an obligation under pain of venial sin of assisting at vespers as well as of hearing Mass, but the opinion rests on no certain foundation and is now commonly abandoned. The common opinion maintains that, while it is highly becoming to be present at Vespers on Sunday, there is no strict obligation to be present. The method of reckoning the Sunday from sunset to sunset continued in some places down to the seventeenth century, but in general since the Middle Ages the reckoning from midnight to midnight has been followed. When the parochial system was introduced, the laity were taught that they must hear Mass and the preaching of the Word of God on Sundays in their parish church. However, toward the end of the thirteenth century, the friars began to teach that the precept of hearing Mass might be fulfilled by hearing it in their churches, and after long and severe struggles this was expressly allowed by the Holy See. Nowadays, the precept may be fulfilled by hearing Mass in any place except a strictly private oratory, and provided Mass is not celebrated on a portable altar by a privilege which is merely personal.
The obligation of rest from work on Sunday remained somewhat indefinite for several centuries. A Council of Laodicea, held toward the end of the fourth century, was content to prescribe that on the Lord's Day the faithful were to abstain from work as far as possible. At the beginning of the sixth century St. Caesarius, as we have seen, and others showed an inclination to apply the law of the Jewish Sabbath to the observance of the Christian Sunday. The Council held at Orléans in 538 reprobated this tendency as Jewish and non-Christian. From the eight century the law began to be formulated as it exists at the present day, and the local councils forbade servile work, public buying and selling, pleading in the law courts, and the public and solemn taking of oaths. There is a large body of civil legislation on the Sunday rest side by side with the ecclesiastical. It begins with an Edict of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, who forbade judges to sit and townspeople to work on Sunday. He made an exception in favour of agriculture. The breaking of the law of Sunday rest was punished by the Anglo-Saxon legislation in England like other crimes and misdemeanours. After the Reformation, under Puritan influence, many laws were passed in England whose effect is still visible in the stringency of the English Sabbath. Still more is this the case in Scotland. There is no federal legislation in the United States on the observance of the Sunday, but nearly all the states of the Union have statutes tending to repress unnecessary labour and to restrain the liquor traffic. In other respects the legislation of the different states on this matter exhibits considerable variety. On the continent of Europe in recent years there have been several laws passed in direction of enforcing the observance of Sunday rest for the benefit of workmen."
Did you catch that? Friday Sundown to Saturday Sundown is the Jewish Sabbath. Saturday Sundown to Sunday Sundown WAS the Christian Sabbath. Since then, it has been officially changed to "Saturday at midnight to Sunday at midnight." at some point in the middle ages. The magisterium has decreed that we shall transfer the legal commandment to observe the Sabbath and Keep it Holy to Sunday, the day of Our Lord's Resurrection, and has given us very few "guidelines" with regards to what that means (because unlike the teachers in the time of Christ who had made the Sabbath a burden, we remember that the Sabbath is a time of joy and sacred celebration.) For us today, this Sunday Sabbath begins at Midnight on Saturday and Ends at Midnight on Sunday.
There are some who say that the Saturday Sabbath has never been revoked. And they are, to some degree, correct. The Saturday Sabbath was a sign of God's covenant with Israel, before all nations were grafted in. Should you, as a Christian, have an innate strong desire to unite your prayers with those of the Jewish faithful around the world today, I can not argue that it would not be a pious practice than to do so on the day they set aside to worship Him, and Holy Mother Church agrees. Our American Bishops have given us very clear guidelines (I posted them last week) for appropraite interaction with the Jewish World of today, and one of them includes participation in feast days and liturgies--Sabbaths and Feasts-- on JEWISH terms and in JEWISH ways, not substituting with made up, partially Christian themes or innovations. In their wisdom, they tell us to do this because they know it will become evident to us who do these things that the fundamental lack which can be seen in Judaism, the longing for Christ, is replaced with Christian peace for the Christian faithful, who is, indeed, a completed Jew.
When I, as an evangelical protestant years ago, realized that wisdom, I began to attend Shabbat services and spend Shabbats with other Jews at the local Hillel, attending my own Church services on Sundays and observing my own Sabbath rest on Sundays. I will never forget the moment I heard the Rabbi say that they must pray against a wall, waiting for God to break through and come down to bring us peace. It was one of the most powerful moments for me, to realize that Yeshua HAD Come, HAD broken through, HAD saved me and had come for all of us. Never had I yearned for another's salvation and peace the way I did that night.
It also helps to heal the rift and valley of pain and misunderstanding that exists between Jews and Christians. Just as when I recently told you that I spent Ramadan praying and fasting with Muslims on THEIR terms (at their appointed times and in their appointed ways) and God used that to heal, build relationships, and reveal Himself in many ways with muslims I know and love, Non-intrusive recognition of those things Christians DO share in common with Jews is far more effective evangelism than a bullhorn and a Bible. It is healing. It speaks to who we are in Christ without burdening a person by attempting to overpower their understanding, intellect or free will. It is humble, trusting God that He deeply knows and loves each person and that we do not have all the answers.
There are some who say that the Saturday Sabbath has never been revoked. And they are, to some degree, correct. The Saturday Sabbath was a sign of God's covenant with Israel, before all nations were grafted in. Should you, as a Christian, have an innate strong desire to unite your prayers with those of the Jewish faithful around the world today, I can not argue that it would not be a pious practice than to do so on the day they set aside to worship Him, and Holy Mother Church agrees. Our American Bishops have given us very clear guidelines (I posted them last week) for appropraite interaction with the Jewish World of today, and one of them includes participation in feast days and liturgies--Sabbaths and Feasts-- on JEWISH terms and in JEWISH ways, not substituting with made up, partially Christian themes or innovations. In their wisdom, they tell us to do this because they know it will become evident to us who do these things that the fundamental lack which can be seen in Judaism, the longing for Christ, is replaced with Christian peace for the Christian faithful, who is, indeed, a completed Jew.
When I, as an evangelical protestant years ago, realized that wisdom, I began to attend Shabbat services and spend Shabbats with other Jews at the local Hillel, attending my own Church services on Sundays and observing my own Sabbath rest on Sundays. I will never forget the moment I heard the Rabbi say that they must pray against a wall, waiting for God to break through and come down to bring us peace. It was one of the most powerful moments for me, to realize that Yeshua HAD Come, HAD broken through, HAD saved me and had come for all of us. Never had I yearned for another's salvation and peace the way I did that night.
It also helps to heal the rift and valley of pain and misunderstanding that exists between Jews and Christians. Just as when I recently told you that I spent Ramadan praying and fasting with Muslims on THEIR terms (at their appointed times and in their appointed ways) and God used that to heal, build relationships, and reveal Himself in many ways with muslims I know and love, Non-intrusive recognition of those things Christians DO share in common with Jews is far more effective evangelism than a bullhorn and a Bible. It is healing. It speaks to who we are in Christ without burdening a person by attempting to overpower their understanding, intellect or free will. It is humble, trusting God that He deeply knows and loves each person and that we do not have all the answers.
What does this mean in a practical sense? That if you choose to observe some sort of Saturday Sabbath you will have ample time to "re-prepare" for another rest in the time from Sundown Saturday to midnight (as if there is that much to do?) if you were to take the Torah commandments not to cook, work, light fires, etc seriously, (read: as a virtuous practice and not as a legally binding observance.) This is at no cost to you, for you are under no curse if you "must" work on Saturday... as I demonstrated earlier when I said that our Sabbath REST is in Christ. Mothers will know exactly what I mean: Try as I might to cook, clean, and prepare everything in advance for my Sabbaths, there is always a diaper to change, a stain to wipe up, or a crying baby to soothe. Fortunately, my obligation is to find my rest in Christ, to allow HIM to shoulder those burdens for me, more so on the Sabbath than on any other day.
Nevertheless, it is in no way binding upon you to observe a feast on Saturdays. (unless a Holy Day of obligation should fall on that day)
Catholicism, Christianity, is superior to Judaism. It is Complete. This is not something many people want to acknowledge because it is almost a declaration of war, but it need not be. We can consider that biblical, well ordered Judaism is "Very Good in the eyes of God," but that ignorance of His Son is a fundamental lack that brings about a sadness, a yearning, that need not be. We should not regard the Jews as "wrong," but rather as "blinded," as the traditional prayer for the conversion of the Jews says... blinded to the fulfillment of their own faith available in Yeshua. Veiled. Nevertheless, in our daily interactions with Jews, we are to focus on what we have in common, both for our OWN spiritual good and for theirs. "Seek," says God, "and ye shall find. Ask, and it shall be given to you." A Jew who earnestly seeks the messiah will inevitably encounter Yeshua. And not because someone sat him down and exhorted him to turn his life over to Christ while bashing his head in with a bible. A Jew knows that the Lord is to be found in the still, small voice.
Catholics enjoy a maturity of the faith, an evolution that maintains absolutely every element of Judaism with it's sole focus on Christ. We do not look back, except in sorrow and gratitude. We look forward. But it is precisely because we look forward that we should acknowledge the unique calling of the Hebrew people to witness to the world. As a nation, spread out among all the nations, they are a witness of hope. The very existence of the nation of Israel is a miracle, a witness of hope. Out of the ashes of the Shoah, we are confronted with the unfathomable strength of a people, given by God, to overcome in search of hope.
Nevertheless, it is in no way binding upon you to observe a feast on Saturdays. (unless a Holy Day of obligation should fall on that day)
Catholicism, Christianity, is superior to Judaism. It is Complete. This is not something many people want to acknowledge because it is almost a declaration of war, but it need not be. We can consider that biblical, well ordered Judaism is "Very Good in the eyes of God," but that ignorance of His Son is a fundamental lack that brings about a sadness, a yearning, that need not be. We should not regard the Jews as "wrong," but rather as "blinded," as the traditional prayer for the conversion of the Jews says... blinded to the fulfillment of their own faith available in Yeshua. Veiled. Nevertheless, in our daily interactions with Jews, we are to focus on what we have in common, both for our OWN spiritual good and for theirs. "Seek," says God, "and ye shall find. Ask, and it shall be given to you." A Jew who earnestly seeks the messiah will inevitably encounter Yeshua. And not because someone sat him down and exhorted him to turn his life over to Christ while bashing his head in with a bible. A Jew knows that the Lord is to be found in the still, small voice.
Catholics enjoy a maturity of the faith, an evolution that maintains absolutely every element of Judaism with it's sole focus on Christ. We do not look back, except in sorrow and gratitude. We look forward. But it is precisely because we look forward that we should acknowledge the unique calling of the Hebrew people to witness to the world. As a nation, spread out among all the nations, they are a witness of hope. The very existence of the nation of Israel is a miracle, a witness of hope. Out of the ashes of the Shoah, we are confronted with the unfathomable strength of a people, given by God, to overcome in search of hope.
If you are a Hebrew Catholic today who feels increasingly convicted to preserve a Jewish Identity by keeping your Sabbath to some degree on both days, do note that according to the Old Covenant, the SIGN of the Covenant was the Sabbath itself. This old covenant, having never been revoked but having only built upon itself, serves a very special purpose in the world today that you may have never considered. Witness. "Salvation is from the Jews," the Word tells us, and we must see and understand.
You see, the Jews are a living testimony to the Word of God. By the sole existence of a Hebrew people, let alone a nation, ESPECIALLY in the face of such an obviously Satanic perpetual attempt to eradicate said nation from the face of the earth, a sign to the world of the reality of God is visible. The perpetual presence of the Jewish people on this earth is a balm to the soul of any believer in God.
Further, the seemingly never-ending difficulties between arabs and jews, and yet their absolutely amazing cultural, religious, and linguistic similarities, are also a sign of God's presence among us, for we see in that struggle the very difficulty foretold to Hagar as she pleaded with God for Ishmael's life. Because, then, of this "special" (chosen?) nature of the Jewish people (and to some degree, the arab people as well) to testify to God's covenant keeping ability, it is my personal opinion that a Christian of Hebrew descent has then twice the responsibility of "demonstrating" to the world that his Jewish Identity within the Catholic Church is intact--That he, in all of his biblical, Hebrew annointing, has accepted Yeshua as Messiah and the Catholic Church as His Church on earth. What does that have to do with the Sabbath? Everything.
Because God commanded Israel to keep the feasts and sabbath, those Hebrew Catholics who do so in ADDITION to keeping the precepts of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church are a living sign to the world that the people of Israel are here, obey God's commandments to them, and have seen the Messiah and obey him. Further, they are a living sign to the people of the Church-- witnesses to God's faithfulness, as well as to the people outside the Church, in particular to their own people and to the muslims.
St Paul CLEARLY pointed out, as I said earlier, that the OT law is not binding to Christians. And yet the reality of it is that some us, some of you reading right now, (and I suspect you may in some way be connected to judaism yourself) have felt in your heart of hearts that you WERE called to somehow witness to the world and to your own soul by keeping Torah as the visible foundation on which your faith in Christ was built, by keeping Shabbat, for example, or maintaining a Kosher home, or any number of visible signs that you participate in Hebraic Culture. At least to acknowledge them as being culturally, and biblically, sound, present, and pointing towards Yeshua and His Church.
Or perhaps, to the contrary, you are appalled by this "trend" to persist in "judaizing" the Christian faith and looking for what you consider to be "additions" and "novelties" that are not binding upon Christians. You want to ensure that the Catholic Faith remains intact and free from falsehood, which means persisting in maintaining a specifically CHRISTIAN identity, free from any visible sign of Jewishness, and all this talk of maintaining the integrity of the Jewish Identity within Catholic culture bothers you.
Let us turn to St Paul, then, who will give you the perfect, moderate, and sensible Catholic answer, an answer not to the right, nor to the left. For in his wisdom, given by the Holy Spirit, he knows that both a perfect "Christianity" and a remembrance and celebration of from whence we came are necessary elements of the One, True Church. Not ALL are called to witness to the biblical, hebrew roots of the Catholic faith in visible signs and actions. But are some?
Or perhaps, to the contrary, you are appalled by this "trend" to persist in "judaizing" the Christian faith and looking for what you consider to be "additions" and "novelties" that are not binding upon Christians. You want to ensure that the Catholic Faith remains intact and free from falsehood, which means persisting in maintaining a specifically CHRISTIAN identity, free from any visible sign of Jewishness, and all this talk of maintaining the integrity of the Jewish Identity within Catholic culture bothers you.
Let us turn to St Paul, then, who will give you the perfect, moderate, and sensible Catholic answer, an answer not to the right, nor to the left. For in his wisdom, given by the Holy Spirit, he knows that both a perfect "Christianity" and a remembrance and celebration of from whence we came are necessary elements of the One, True Church. Not ALL are called to witness to the biblical, hebrew roots of the Catholic faith in visible signs and actions. But are some?
Romans 14:6
He that regards the day regards it unto the Lord. And he that eats eats to the Lord: for he gives thanks to God. And he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not and gives thanks to God.
By virtue of your belonging to the Church, Catholics, you are bound to attend mass and to rest on Sunday, your Sabbath---the Lord's Day--- and on all Holy Days of Obligation. That is all. That is what you are held to in the eyes of God.
But don't let that stop you from seeking closer intimacy with God, in particular if you might be discerning that, in a special way, He has called to be a sign to the world. In these last days, God is gathering the Jewish people, as He has said He would.
and visit The Association of Hebrew Catholics for more information on how to answer that call in your heart and be a sign of God's Covenant, and thus a healing balm, to a world at war.
If you are local, please see the "pray with me" section of this blog to get involved.
The peace of Carmel to you in Yeshua HaMashiach and His mother and ours, Miryam Hakdosha.
St Edith Stein, Hebrew Catholic Carmelite, pray for us.
Blessed Mariam, the" little arab" of Palestine, pray for us.
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