The Sabbath

AS and A Level Religious Studies & Philosophy

Sabbath AO1

The Sabbath (Saturday) is the Jewish holy day of rest it marks gods rest after creation of the

World. Christians celebrate sun day as their holy day because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday. Every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection.

For Christians, Sunday is the day on which time should be set aside for the worship of god.

The Jewish Sabbath

Sabbath is a Hebrew word meaning ‘rest’.

Sabbath is the day of rest in Judaism. It begins at sunset on Friday and lasts until sunset on Saturday.

In the Ten Commandments the reason given for the Sabbath being a holy day is that after god had created the world in six days he rested on the seventh.

Jews keep Sabbath as a holy day set aside for god. It is celebrated at home with special family meal on Friday evening and with synagogue worship, unnecessary work is avoided. Sabbath is a day to be honoured and enjoyed as a gift from god.

The Pharisees

The Pharisees had a great deal of influence in the synagogues and in every Jewish community. They devoted their lives to studying the Torah. To make sure that gods commandments were followed in daily lives they created many extra rules on matters such as washing, eating, the Sabbath and festivals. Jesus said that the Pharisees had created too many laws, making the religious life a burden rather then a joy.

The Pharisees created very selfish laws that were mostly beneficial towards them and not for the Sabbath and once Jesus was picking corn with his disciples and they questioned the disciples and criticized them because technically they were working (harvesting) on the Sabbath. Jesus replied by talking about a time when king David and his men broke the law by eating some of the holy bread at the shrine, the law said only priest could eat it, but the priest offered it to him because their was nothing else to eat.

The law was made to protect the rights of ...

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The law was made to protect the rights of the priest and not to stop the priests feeding hungry men. “The Sabbath was made for men and not man for the Sabbath” said Jesus.

The law was created to allow people to rest and worship god and not to stop hungry men nibbling on ears of corn.

I think that from this Jesus meant that Sabbath and its laws were created for working class people who on the Sabbath were given the chance to rest by its master because Sabbath was a day of rest and also they was given the chance to worship god. The Pharisees changed around a few things and made stupid laws so that they would have more control.

“So the son of man is lord even of the Sabbath,” this means that Jesus had power over the Sabbath and its rules, as what Jesus was doing was what god wanted to be done.

In mark 1: 21-28 the man with the evil spirit Jesus was in a synagogue preaching and teaching this is how we know that Jesus was a practicing Jew.

These verses show that the Sabbath was so important that you weren’t even allow burying the body of a dead person during the Sabbath or right before it or right after it. To do you would have to ask the permission of Pontius Pilate that’s how important the rules of the Sabbath were.

Sunday is special for Christians because it was the day that Jesus was raised from the dead as the scriptures said.

Many Christians have Holy Communion services, as it’s an enactment of the last supper there are plenty of names for this service here is some:

Holy communion. A bond with Jesus himself and with their fellow Christians.

Eucharist. Christians thank god for the blessing, which come from the death and resurrection of Jesus (Roman Catholic and Anglicans).

Mass. Strengthened by the body and blood of Jesus and by the fellowship of the church, Christians go out with a mission to the world. The Latin mass ended the words with you are sent on a mission (roman Catholics and some Anglicans)

The Lords Supper. As Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples so he is spiritually present among his followers today (Methodists and Baptists).

The breaking of the bread. A fellowship meal, which Christians share in memory of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Liturgy. The service Christians offer to god. Orthodox Christians use the name because at the Divine Liturgy they offer god their praise and worship. They also offer him they’re everyday lives.

The Salvation Army and the Quakers do no have Holy Communion services because they do not believe that Jesus blood and body can be transformed from bread and wine.

Mark chapter 12 verses 28-34 has something to do with this because the Christians who do not receive the holy communion do something else that Jesus Christ would appreciate as loving your god with all your heart and strength and loving your neighbour with all your heart and strength as well are the two greatest commandments and this are the actions that the salvation army and Quakers carry on.

Christians keep Sunday for worship. For Christians Sunday is a regular day for worship, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Some Christians believe that Sunday should be a day of rest, like the Sabbath. They assume that the commandment applies to the Christian Sunday and that day nobody should work unnecessarily.

Other Christians prefer to be positive. As long as Christians give some time to worship Sundays, what they do with the rest of the day doesn’t matter.