RE
COURSEWORK
MARTIN
MCCAFFREY
2D
The Sabbath is the weekly day of rest, which lasts from sunset on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, which is observed by Jews. It is viewed as being the most important day of the week. Observing the Sabbath day is the oldest of all Jewish traditions; the Sabbath day goes back to the time of Moses.
The Sabbath is looked upon as extremely important for several reasons. It is the only festival mentioned in the 10 commandments, 'observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.' It also is connected with the release of the Jews from Egyptian slavery, the Exodus. The Exodus was the most important demonstration of God's power in Jewish history. Also, it is believed that God created the Earth in 6 days, and he rested on the 7th, so the Jews are following the example of God by resting on the 7th day. The Sabbath day combines the Exodus, and the creation of the Earth, which are the two greatest events in Jewish history.
The Pharisees felt very strongly about the Sabbath and its rules, and believed they should never ever be broken, if a law of the Sabbath was broken, it was actually punishable by death. It was so important to the Jews to keep the Sabbath special and to keep up the Jewish tradition, that over time, Pharisees created a number of other rules, the idea of these was to prevent people breaking the main, bigger laws of the Sabbath. Jesus objected much more to the new rules than he did do to the actual rules themselves. These extra rules were known as the 'fence around the Torah.'
On the Sabbath day, nobody was allowed to work. Under the main law of no work, there were 39 categories of work, which were all forbidden by Jewish law. Some of these categories included writing two or more letters of the alphabet, baking, salting the skin of a animal, tying a knot, hunting, lighting or putting out a fire, striking a hammer, and carrying anything from one place to another.
However Jesus felt differently about the Sabbath to the Pharisees, he felt that meeting human need was more important than the keeping of the Sabbath laws.
The rules of the Sabbath did change over time, earlier it was against the law to help another person or animal which was in danger, but by the time of Jesus a Jew became permitted to save any human or animal if their lives were in danger, and it could not wait until the Sabbath day was over.
However Jesus had a completely different interpretation of the Sabbath day and its laws, and there were three definite occasions where he blatantly broke the laws of the Sabbath.
Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue one day when a man asked if Jesus was 'here to destroy us.' At the time it was believed the man had an evil spirit inside him, causing the man to be ill. Jesus exorcised the demon with authority, telling the demon to 'be quiet.' The spirit recognises Jesus and becomes silent. This incident occurred on the Sabbath day, and at ...
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However Jesus had a completely different interpretation of the Sabbath day and its laws, and there were three definite occasions where he blatantly broke the laws of the Sabbath.
Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue one day when a man asked if Jesus was 'here to destroy us.' At the time it was believed the man had an evil spirit inside him, causing the man to be ill. Jesus exorcised the demon with authority, telling the demon to 'be quiet.' The spirit recognises Jesus and becomes silent. This incident occurred on the Sabbath day, and at this time the only healing permitted on the Sabbath was when somebody's life was in danger. As this mans illness wasn't life threatening, his healing could have waited until the Sabbath was over, therefore Jesus was breaking one of the laws of the Sabbath.
In this incident Jesus is showing authority over evil spirits, and authority over dark and evil. Mark included this incident to show the amazement of the people when Jesus cast the evil spirit out of the man. The people were so amazed by this that they seemed to forget it was performed on the Sabbath day, and against the laws. There were also no Pharisees, Scribes, or Herodians present at the time of this miracle, and these were the groups who were most opposed to Jesus and his teaching.
Mark 1:28, it says how the news about Jesus spread quickly throughout Galilee. Mark includes this to show why the religious leaders feel threatened by Jesus, as the news of him spreads far, and quickly, influencing many people and possibly causing them to disagree with the teachings of the Pharisees.
Jesus taught differently to others, he had received no formal training, and did not quote from the Torah, he taught in his own way with his own ideas, he taught with authority, which is why the people were so amazed at his teaching.
Jesus and his disciples were also criticised for not following the laws of the church and fasting regularly, (Mark 2:18) Jesus did not make his disciples fast, whereas the Pharisees did, so the Pharisees would not agree with Jesus here, as he is not doing something which they do and obviously feel is important. When questioned as to why they did not fast, Jesus says ''The guests of a wedding do not fast until the bridegroom is gone.' Jesus is still with his disciples, and he feels they should not fast until he is gone.
Jesus' disciples were picking corn on the Sabbath day, and this was considered as reaping the corn, which is against the laws of the Sabbath. The Pharisees were quick to accuse Jesus of breaking the law here, even though it was his disciples. When Jesus was accused of breaking the Sabbath laws, he quoted the time when King David and his army ate the bread offered to God, at a time of need for them. Jesus felt that human need should come before the law, as in the case of King David; if you need to eat then you should eat. To Jesus, human need came before the rules and regulations of the Sabbath, and eating when you are hungry is not against the law. The Pharisees feel that Jesus and his disciples should not be picking corn on the Sabbath; this shows how strict their attitude was to the Sabbath day and its laws.
He says 'The Sabbath is made for the good of human beings; they are not made for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.' He means that human beings do not exist on Earth solely for the Sabbath day, that the Sabbath was created for the humans. The religious leaders seemed to feel that the Sabbath rules should definitely come before human need, a totally different opinion to the ideas that were taught by Jesus.
The third occasion when Jesus obviously broke the laws of the Sabbath was the case of the man with the paralysed hand. Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, with people watching who wanted to accuse him of doing wrong so they had a reason to convict him. Jesus called the man up to the front, and said 'what does our law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone's life or destroy it?' They said nothing, so Jesus asked the man to stretch out his hand, and healed it, although he was fully aware of the disapproval from the Pharisees about him breaking the laws of the Sabbath.
Mark uses this story to show how the Pharisees were not willing to regard what Jesus says, he has explained why he does what he does and breaks the laws of the Sabbath, but they are not willing to listen and plan to kill him anyway. The Pharisees and the Herodians, who are sworn enemies, meet together to plan to kill Jesus, which shows their desperation to kill him.
These three occasions are the main events that caused the religious leaders to turn against Jesus. Mark shows how strongly both groups felt about their beliefs, Jesus to break the laws of the Sabbath, and the Pharisees planning to kill him.
In Mark 3:27 Jesus says 'the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.' By this he means that as Jesus has the title Son of Man, he is greater even than the laws of the Sabbath, as he has power on Earth to forgive peoples sins, which was previously only a power of God. So as Son of Man Jesus feels he can break the laws of the Sabbath, he is above the laws.
Jesus strongly opposed the 'fence around the Torah,' the extra rules which were added, but to the religious leaders these rules were extremely important, as they stopped people from breaking the main laws of the Sabbath, whereas to Jesus these laws were the whole problem. Jesus simply felt that human need should come before the rules of the Sabbath, which is why he healed the man with an evil spirit inside him, and the man with a paralysed arm. This is also why he allowed his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath day, as if you are hungry you should eat, your need should come before the law of the Sabbath, you should not starve yourself, or deprive yourself of something if you don't wish to just because it is against the law of the Sabbath day.
Mark includes incidents where Jesus broke the laws of the Sabbath, and of reactions to this from the people, and religious leaders.
Jesus disagreeing with, and breaking these laws was the main reason he disagreed with the Pharisees, and the main reason of conflict between Jesus and the authorities of the time.
"Christians should not take part in sporting events or go shopping on a Sunday."
Do you agree or disagree? Give your answer with reasons, showing that you have considered more than one point of view.
The Christian idea of the Sabbath is that it is a holy day of rest and worship. Most Christians celebrate the Sabbath day on Sunday, as under Emperor Trajan meeting on Saturday evenings became illegal, which forced them to move the meetings to Sunday mornings, and this is also linked with the resurrection of Jesus.
The Roman Catholic church teaches that Sunday is a day of grace and rest from work, and the church and many Christians still believe that Sunday should be kept a special day as it was in the time of Jesus.
However, now, many people view Sunday as any other day of the week, and there is nothing different or special about it. On a Sunday it has become legal for large shops to open for up to 6 hours, and smaller shops for longer. Going to church on a Saturday evening rather than a Sunday is also becoming more common now, as many people work on Sundays and are not able to attend church then.
People who believed that Sunday should be kept as a day of worship launched the 'Keep Sunday Special' campaign; they felt that allowing shops to open was breaking Christian traditions. Many people also did not want to be forced to work on a Sunday, as it was their only day off a week.
As Sunday is the only day without work for many people, if shops did not open that day, they would not be able to shop on any other day, in some cases for things like food. Jesus felt that human need came 1st, and people not being able to buy necessities on Sundays is putting the Sabbath before their needs.
Sport to many people is classed as using a talent which was given to you by God, therefore acceptable on the Sabbath day, but others, who feel Sundays should be used for helping others and worship think sport doesn't help anybody, unless the sporting event is specifically arranged to benefit people. However for professionals who earn money from their sport, some people look it upon as work. However sport can be enjoyed by the people taking part and people watching, and can be used by a family as a way of bonding and spending time together.
I believe that both shopping and sporting events should be permitted on a Sunday, as it is people's choice whether they wish to use Sundays for worship and rest, or treat it like any other day of the week.
