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Saturday Night: |
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by Paul Sumner
The early followers of Yeshua of Nazareth—whom they believed to be the Messiah or Anointed One—met for fellowship on "the first day of the week." Was this on Sunday, as many believe? Or was it, as evidence in the New Testament reveals, on Saturday night?
The book of Acts provides the earliest historical record of the activities of the first Jewish disciples and followers of Yeshua. It also includes brief sketches of the practices of the non-Jewish converts to the "Yeshua-is-Messiah" movement. What may surprise people today—who live with a bifurcated worldview that Judaism and Christianity are two distinct religions—is that the Jewish disciples continued to attend synagogue on Shabbat (Saturday). For them, there was no conflict between accepting Yeshua as Messiah and being observant members of the Jewish community. [Top]
Yeshua & His Followers Attend Synagogue
There, he read from the biblical scrolls and preached "the gospel of the Kingdom" (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 12:9; 13:54). He affirmed his messianic identity as God's Anointed One (Luke 4:16-22). He openly engaged the Jewish community in her centers of faith: "I always taught in synagogues and in the Temple, where all the Jews come together. And I spoke nothing in secret." (John 18:20) The Pharisee Saul of Tarsus (Paul the apostle) followed his Master's pattern. After Saul obeyed his call to be a missionary to Gentile peoples and took the name "Paul," he still entered the synagogues in every town he visited (Acts 13:5,14; 14:1; 17:1-2,20; 18:4,19,26; 19:8). He wasn't a "Christian" entering a Jewish house of prayer. He was a Jew entering his people's place of worship, where he spoke to them about the Jewish Messiah.
Paul tells how he persecuted fellow Jews who believed in Yeshua: "In one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed" (Acts 22:19). "I punished them often in all the synagogues" (Acts 26:11). At least once, the term synagogue is used for an assembled group of Messianic believers: "If a man comes into your synagogue…" (James 2:2). In Hebrews 10:25, the Greek term epi-sunagoge is usually translated something like "assembling together." But it could specifically refer to a local gathering (lit. synagoge) of Jewish believers.
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Gathering to Hear & Discuss Scripture
Discussing the Word of God or the content of a sermon was the common response of those in attendance. When Paul preached in the synagogue in Berea, Macedonia, the Jews there responded to his message "with great eagerness." Whereupon they examined, questioned, or evaluated [anakrino] "the Scriptures daily" to see whether what he said was true (Acts 17:10-11). That was the atmosphere in a synagogue in those days, when Scripture reading was of great importance and "reasoning" and "persuasion" were common fare (Acts 17:2; 18:4, 19; 19:8-9). These passages do not tell us which day the Jewish believers met as believers. But three other passages do give us clues about when they gathered. [Top] The Gospels record Yeshua's first public appearance following his inaugural immersion in the Jordan River. After returning to his home region of Galilee, he enters the synagogue in Capernaum, on the north shore of Kinneret, the Lake of Galilee. After his dramatic reading from Isaiah 61 and his declaration that the prophetic word was fulfilled in himself, he leaves the synagogue and walks to the home of Simon Peter, a local fisherman. Simon's mother-in-law is ill with a high fever and Yeshua heals her. The Shabbat then draws to a close. "When evening had come, after the sun had set, they began bringing to him all who were ill and and those who were demon-possessed.... And he healed many." This redemptive session no doubt continued long into the night—Saturday night. That apparently set a precedent for observing a (Saturday) Shabbat day of learning and worship among the believing Jewish community, followed by an evening of more intimate, Messiah-centered gatherings in homes. In the New Testament, "Sabbath" refers to the biblical day of rest—Saturday. That will not apparently change. In the future there will be "times of refreshing...periods of restoration" (Acts 3:19, 21). They will be an era-event Yeshua called "the Regeneration" (Matthew 19:28). That time is likely what is meant by the promise made to Jewish believers: "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). Yeshua described himself as "the Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). Presumably, he retains that office, both now and in the future. [Top] Acts 20 provides important details about a gathering of disciples in the town of Troas, on the west coast of Asia (now Turkey). "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together [sunago] to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight." (Acts 20:7)Let's parse this rich narrative. On the first day of the week. In a Jewish time-frame the Shabbat, the seventh weekday, began at sundown Friday and ended at sundown Saturday. The first day of the week officially started after sunset, not midnight. Thus in a Jewish context, the phrase "first day of the week" in v. 7 would refer to Saturday evening, not the next morning. The first "first day" [yom echad] in the Bible is the initial day of creation (Genesis 1:5). There's a pattern here. Yeshua was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. In a sense he is the first fruits of a new or second creation (Matthew 28:1; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). To break bread. The disciples gathered to eat. Breaking bread is an idiom that can mean simply to share a common meal. It also seems to denote a Messianic Passover or breaking a loaf of unleavened bread in the name of Yeshua Messiah (1 Corinthians 11:20-28). (Note, this gathering in Troas took place during the week after Passover; v. 6.) [Top] Paul prolonged his message until midnight. The text goes on to describe the "many lamps in the upper room" where they were meeting (v. 8). At midnight a man fell asleep, fell from a third floor window, and died. Paul revived him miraculously, then "talked with them a long while, until daybreak" (v. 11). The picture here is that this group of disciples meets in a private home, perhaps after they had attended the local synagogue to hear the Scriptures read during the day and afternoon. It's now evening. Perhaps 6:00 p.m. After they eat their meal—in fellowship and to remember Yeshua the Passover Lamb—Paul begins his teaching. Perhaps he discusses the Scripture portions read earlier in the synagogue. Perhaps he then expounds on the teachings of Yeshua and admonishes the folks about walking in (following) "the Torah of Messiah" (Galatians 6:2).
How long did he talk?
These excited and hungry believers want to know everything they can about the Messiah and the salvation he brought to them, from the mouth of his messenger Paul. And since Paul told them he was leaving the following morning, they aren't about to end the time without getting the last drop of living water. [Top]
Sunday? Not likely
They meet early Sunday morning—say, 9 a.m.—in someone's home.
While nothing is impossible, the focus of this story in Acts 20 is the miracle of the man's revival from death—not an extended, miraculous time of teaching on the part of Paul.
The Jewish context more reasonable
[Top] In his letter to Greek and Jewish believers in Corinth, Greece, Paul admonishes them, "On the first day of the week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper." This refers to collecting money to be sent to aid "the holy ones" [hagioi] or Jewish believers in Jerusalem (Romans 15:25, 31; 2 Corinthians 8:1-5; 9:5-15). In later Judaism it became a law (and is still so today) that money was not to be handled on the Shabbat. The exchange of money implied commerce, and thus work. This ruling was based on principles outlined in Amos 8:5; Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-19. But once the day of rest was over—in other words, on Saturday evening after sunset—such activity could resume.
Whether this restriction had developed yet in first century Judaism is not certain. But Paul's reference to collecting money on the "first day of the week" is suggestive that it was. We know Paul observed many other details of the Law of Moses. [See As Was Their Custom: The Disciples in Light of Scripture.] Here, as in Acts 20, the question is whether the Messianic believers had the freedom to take time off from work to meet during the day on Sunday—a normal workday in the ancient world, for both Jews and Gentiles. Or is it more likely that they met Saturday night after synagogue attendance (if they were Jewish) or after work (if they were Gentile) for a fellowship gathering in a private home, where they donated funds for their brethren in Jerusalem? [Top] |
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