The Sabbath
Assignment Task- AO1
The Sabbath is a day of rest. In Hebrew "Sabbath" means "rest". It is also a day to practice your faith. There are two days in which the Sabbath is celebrated. Firstly the Jewish celebrate it on Saturday yet Christians celebrate it on Sunday. They do this because they want to be individual. Christians are not Jewish and they feel that they should celebrate the Sabbath individually on their own- to be recognized as Christians. They also celebrate the Sabbath on a Sunday as that is the last day of the week for them, the day to rest. But more importantly, Christians celebrate the Sabbath on a Sunday, because that was the day Christ rose from the dead. To Christians this is the greatest event in history. The Jewish celebrate the Sabbath on a Saturday though, as their week ends on a Saturday and starts on a Sunday. So they listen to the Ten Commandments, and always rests on the seventh day- their Saturday. But even though they celebrate the Sabbath on a Saturday, their Sabbath actually begins on sunset on Friday and lasts until sunset on Saturday.
Throughout Mark's Gospel we can find three main passages which are very important for understanding the Sabbath. The first text is Mark 1: 21-28. Also known as "The man with an evil spirit." In this passage Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. People were extremely surprised at his teaching as he taught like a rabbi and knew all the scriptures, but a man with an evil spirit was not fooled. He cried out to Jesus asking him what he wanted. At this Jesus sent the spirit away. The man was healed. This shows the authority Jesus could have over others. The passage is trying to tell us that the Sabbath is for healing. It is for helping others less fortunate than us, doing g ...