February 19 | Acts 1:12-14

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DAILY READING

Acts 1:12-14

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REFLECTION

The Sabbath and Prayer

by Dave Thompson 

During our Luke study, I get the pleasure of speaking about Acts 1. The scripture passage for today is verses 12-14. In the opening of this passage we see again the essence of the Old Testament law. The passage reads that the Apostles were walking a Sabbath day's walk back to Jerusalem. Just to see, here is a non-official explanation about the permitted walk.

Jewish law sets the maximum walking range from one’s city to 2,000 cubits (3,049.5 feet, 0.596 miles (960 meters). [However, this measurement starts 70 2/3 cubits (112.24 ft.) from the city limits.] Practically speaking, this means that you may not walk a straight line more than .598 miles (3161.74 ft.) in any direction in the wilds outside your city limits.

It ends with this warning: "This can be complex, and a rabbi should be consulted before planning a long trek on the Sabbath."

Can you imagine calling Pastor Steve to check out if you or I had done something wrong or not. As you can see, the rules of keeping the Sabbath laws perfectly could be very difficult. A few weeks ago, I shared that at the time of Christ, there were documents that outlined these laws. At that time, there were 36 categories of things you couldn't do on the Sabbath.

I was amused when my Old Testament professor at Indiana Wesleyan shared a rule that illustrated the convoluted nature of this system of being right with God and this is just one of the laws. "It was a rule that said you could pick up your child on the Sabbath, but if that child was found to have a stone in his or her pocket, you had labored on the Sabbath and were unclean and had to make a sacrifice to atone for your gross behavior."

And again, there were 36 categories of these rules. By Acts 1, Christ had been killed due in part for His not following these rules (or at least that was part of the Pharisee's story). The other part they accused Christ of was claiming to be the Son of God.

Aren't you glad that at Christ's death and forever moving forward, when we transgress God's laws, Christians only have to understand the wrong and ask forgiveness? To further celebrate this freedom compared to the Levitical and Mosaic laws that the Jewish people were tied to; Christians are free from arcane rituals to purify ourselves. I often pray that I am sorry for anything I have done knowingly or unknowingly and guess what? From how I read my Bible, I am forgiven (1 John 1:9). Thanks be to God.

This passage finishes with all of the traveling Apostles and those that were already in the Upper Room where they all were staying. The gathered were

in constant and fervent prayer. Over the years, these prayers were answered and today, we Christians exist because of the prayers of our predecessors.

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for the New Covenant you created through the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you for all of the Witnesses that came before us and for those that lead us now. You are an amazing God. Amen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE THOMPSON

I am the administrator of the Daily Worship Blog. My wife, Carla, and I have been attending UALC for seven years at the 9 o'clock service at Mill Run. We have two children, Catherine and Aaron. I have been a Christian for 53 years and am thankful that my Savior has given me two spiritual gifts that have carried me both spiritually and vocationally all my life: they are teaching and administration. I look forward to spending many years here at UALC to serve my Lord and Savior.

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