Saturday of the twenty-second week in Ordinary Time – Odd Year
Posté par diaconos le 4 septembre 2021
Why do you do what is not allowed on the Sabbath ?
The Sabbath is the day of rest assigned to the seventh day of the Biblical week, Saturday, which begins at nightfall on Friday night. The Sabbath is an official holiday in Israel, and apart from shops, public transport does not operate. It is a fundamental element of Israelite religions and is observed by many of the faithful. Beyond the notions of ‘prescribed’ and ‘proscribed’ (or, in a more literal interpretation, ‘permitted’ and ‘forbidden’1 ), the Sabbath is seen above all as a day outside of time and material contingencies, a day on which all outside activities must be curtailed in order to concentrate on family and home.
It begins on Friday, 18 minutes before sunset, and ends on Saturday after the appearance of three medium-sized stars (approximately 40 minutes after sunset), lasting between 25 hours and 25.5 hours depending on the season. The additional period before sunset is not 18 minutes everywhere, for some it is 22 or 24 minutes, in Safed 30 minutes, in Jerusalem 40 minutes. The observance of the hours is very precise among the haredim and there are « hour charts » distributed in the communities.
Maale Adumim and Petach Tikvah observed the same time as Jerusalem because their first inhabitants came from Jerusalem and brought their traditions with them. Married women may, according to interpretations, not be required to stop working on the Sabbath, as they are not mentioned in the book of Exodus (20:8-11): « Remember the day of rest, to keep it holy. Six days you shall work, and do all your work. But the seventh day is the rest day of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the LORD blessed the day of rest and hallowed it. »
In ancient society, they were mainly devoted to domestic activities, which were daily necessary and tolerated during the Sabbath in their family circle. The principle of a holy day, dedicated to God at the expense of daily occupations, was adopted in all Abrahamic religions. Indeed, all texts agree on the term Sabbath and its meaning in relation to the creation of the heavens and the earth. Detailed article: Sunday. The first Christians, (see Judeo-Christian), Jews following the teachings of Jesus, followed the Jewish Law and in particular the Sabbath.
From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke
01 Now it came to pass on the sabbath day, that Jesus was walking through the field, and his disciples were plucking ears of corn and eating them, having crushed them in their hands. 02 Some of the Pharisees therefore said: Why do ye do that which is not lawful on the sabbath day? « 03 Jesus answered them, « Have you not read what David did one day when he was hungry, both he and those who were with him? 04 He went into the house of God, and took the loaves of the offering, and ate them, and gave them to those who were with him, whereas only the priests are allowed to eat them. » 05 He said to them again, « The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. » (Lk 6:1-5)
The ears of corn plucked
As Jesus walked through the wheat fields on the Sabbath, his disciples crumpled some ears of grain in their hands and ate them. The Pharisees reproached them for this. Jesus answered them with the example of David who, in spite of the law, took the showbread and ate it; then he declared : « I am master of the Sabbath ». According to Matthew, Jesus added other reasons that would fully justify his disciples. On the same day Jesus saw a man working on the Sabbath and said to him, ‘O man! If you know what you are doing, you are happy; but if you do not know, you are cursed and a transgressor of the law.
These words are not authentic and the fact that they relate is hardly probable; a man who had worked publicly would have been arrested and punished; and it is not probable that Jesus would have approved of a direct infringement of the Mosaic commandment, even if the one who was guilty of it had known what he was doing, that is to say, if he had risen, by a true spirituality, above the letter of the law and up to Christian freedom.
Deacon Michel Houyoux
Links to other Christian websites
◊ Jewisch learning : click here to read the paper → Parashat Nitzavim
◊ Rabbi Jacobson Sholom : click here to read the paper → 74, Lifelong Publisher of Chassidic Texts
♥ Ft. Rabbi Shalom Patiel : « The Shabbat Explained is It Really ‘Rest’ With All the Rules ? »
Publié dans comportements, fêtes religieuses, Histoire, Religion, Temps ordinaire | Pas de Commentaire »