The Sabbath

You will remember that the Ten Commandments were given by God to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai after they had escaped from Egypt.  The Fourth Commandment taught them that they must keep the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, as a day on which no work, whether by people or animals, was to be done.  Some people make the mistake of thinking that the Sabbath is the same day as Sunday, but of course the seventh day is not Sunday but Saturday, and the Jews to this day still keep Saturday, the Sabbath, as a day of rest.

Sunday

Although the first Christians were Jews, the Christian Faith and the Christian Church were founded by Jesus for all the peoples of the earth, and so the Jewish Sabbath was not taken over.  Instead, from the very beginning the first day of the week, Sunday, was set apart by the Apostles as a day of worship and rejoicing in honour of the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Day, the first day of the week.  And so you remember, on Low Sunday, the very first Sunday after the Resurrection, the Apostles all met together in the Upper Room in Jerusalem.

The Sunday Eucharist

From the very beginning the Christians kept Sunday by attending the Eucharist, the Lord’s own Service on the Lord’s own Day.  For example, when St Paul was on his third missionary journey, he stopped at a place called Troas on the Dardanelles, and stayed there a week.  He had to leave on the following Sunday, which was the second Sunday after Easter, and so that gave him the opportunity of celebrating the Sunday Eucharist there.  The Christians in Troas used to meet for the Eucharist in a private house in a room that was on the third storey.  So, late on Saturday evening, St Paul went there with the other missionaries including St Luke who, as you know was a doctor and has given us an account of what happened.

St Paul celebrates the Eucharist

There was a large number of lamps lit in the room which must have been very full, because a young man called Eutychus was sitting in the window-sill.  St Paul’s sermon that night was a very long one, and what with that and the heat of the lamps, Eutychus dropped off to sleep and fell out of the window to the ground outside.  They rushed down and found that he was dead, but St Paul put his arm round him and brought him back to life.  They put Eutychus to lie down in another room while St Paul and the rest of the Christians went back upstairs.  There, on the first day of the week St Paul celebrated the Eucharist and gave the Christians their Communion.  Then they talked until dawn and just before they left, Eutychus, feeling much better, was brought in to say goodbye (Acts 20).

Sunday observance

During the great persecutions the Christians continued to meet before dawn because, of course, Sunday was just an ordinary working day in the Roman Empire.  But when the persecutions ended at the beginning of the 4th century, and Christianity was becoming the religion of the Empire, in order that Christians could keep Sunday as a day given to God in worship and prayer, a law was passed making it an official holiday.

The Eucharist

Our first duty on Sundays, therefore, is to be present at the Eucharist.  No other service can ever take the place of the Eucharist because that is the one service which Our Lord has given us and has commanded us with his own lips to take our part in: “Do this in remembrance of me”, he said.  That is why the Church, ever since Our Lord’s Resurrection, has loyally obeyed his command and, Sunday by Sunday, has offered the Eucharist to God as an act of worship and thanksgiving.

A day of rest, relaxation and joy

As regards the rest of Sunday, we should do no unnecessary work ourselves, and we should make none for other people.  We should keep it quietly as a day of rest, relaxation and joy in honour of God and of our Risen Lord.  At one time people used to get Sunday muddled up with the Sabbath and think of it chiefly, not as a day on which we do something by worshipping God, but as a day on which we can do nothing by just sitting about and looking miserable.  For example, I had a great-aunt who would not even peel an orange on Sunday.

On the other hand, it is very wrong to spend Sunday as though it were Saturday and so make it no different from all the other days of the week.  First of all we should be present at the Eucharist.  After that, if we remember that the rest of the day also belongs to God, we should try to spend it quietly, enjoying our leisure time and the company of our family and friends.

Some people have to work on Sundays, for example, to keep public services going but employers should ensure that their workers are able to go to church and worship God.

SUMMARY 

1. The Fourth Commandment teaches us to set apart one day a week specially for God.  We set Sunday apart because of Our Lord’s Resurrection on Easter Day, the first day of the week.  Ever since then the chief duty of every Christian on Sunday is to attend the Eucharist, the Lord’s own Service on the Lord’s own Day.

2. We should give the rest of the day to God by spending it happily but quietly.  We should do no unnecessary work nor make any for others.