Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. – John 20:1

Today's Scripture Reading (February 24, 2024): John 20

We have met on the first day of the week for almost the Christian Church's entire existence. The day we worship has become less important to some contemporary Christians in recent years, yet even now, more church-going Christians attend a worship gathering on Sunday than on any other day of the week. For some older Christians, not worshipping on Sunday is almost unthinkable. Here, we find a mystery: the Christian Church grew out of Judaism, which honors the Sabbath (Saturday) as the appropriate day for worshipping God. Muddying the issue even further, many Christians sincerely believe that Sunday is the biblical Sabbath. It isn't. Strictly speaking, Sunday is "the Lord's Day," and Saturday is "the Sabbath." All of this leads us to an important question: what happened that would cause a group of Jews to change the day on which they would worship?

The answer isn't hidden or part of a conspiracy theory; Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. If you wonder if there is any proof that Jesus rose from the dead, your starting place for the investigation should begin with the behavioral change among the Apostles, which took place almost immediately after the events of that first Easter. What could cause a group of Jewish men to begin to hold their most sacred religious celebrations on Sunday rather than on Saturday as they had for their entire lives? No, they did not stop going to synagogue on the Sabbath. Still, going to the synagogue became more about trying to reach other Jews with the message of the Messiah than it was about worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The act of worship was reserved for Sunday. All because it was on Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead.

Mary and, according to the other Gospels, her friends waited, probably not too patiently, for the Sabbath to pass so they could get to the work of preparing the body of Jesus for burial. It was a task that was Illegal to do on the Sabbath, and so they paused. Early on Sunday morning, the women gathered the spices and supplies they would need to complete the preparation of the body for death. They walked, weighted down by these spices, to where Jesus's body had been left. It was the first day of the Week, Sunday, and although they didn't know it, this Sunday was the very first Lord's Day.

We may not recognize it, but every time we gather on a Sunday for worship, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We are just over a week into Lent's six-week fast, but this fast will only be effective from Monday to Saturday. Why do we not observe the fast on Sundays? As some have suggested, it is not a cheat day, and it is not real Christians who include Sundays in their Lenten ritual. The Lord's Day is always a day of celebration, even during Lent, because every Sunday is Easter, the day that changed the behavior of a group of Jewish men in Judea and one that affects who we are today. We are, and always will be, the children of the resurrection.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 21

See also Matthew 28:1