When the Sabbath was over…

Sunday, 7 February 2010

Today we celebrated Sunday, the memorial of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, here in Jerusalem. After having a number of full days with classes and tours, we were all quite thankful for the opportunity to have the schedule clear for the day, so that we could observe our Christian Sabbath devoutly.

In our freedom, many of us went our various ways for Mass. Some went to the Holy Sepulchre for the Franciscan Mass at the tomb early in the morning on Sunday. Others went to the Church of the Dormition of Mary, which is near the Upper room. Still others went to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Still more went to the Armenian Catholics, the Melkites (Greek Catholics), or the other local churches to be with the local Church.

I really appreciated being able to spend the day just going through Jerusalem and imagining what it must have been like on that Sunday morning 2000 years ago when the women went to the tomb and heard the message that Jesus had risen from the dead.

The Sabbath and the Resurrection. I am amazed at how much this city shuts down on Friday afternoon in preparation for the Sabbath. There truly is so little happening on Saturday! It’s actually quite easy to walk around, although most every business is closed. I imagine what the legal requirement of observing the Sabbath meant for the apostles, and the rush they had to have the body of the savior buried before the sun set. After the Sabbath, they received the most joyful news ever heard by any human being, and around them the world was just working as a normal day. No wonder the Christians of the first century celebrated the Sabbath on Sunday!

So, we celebrated our Sabbath today. Most of us spent it reading and studying for the finals of the upcoming week and gearing up for our final week before leaving Jerusalem.