I spent all of Sunday traveling. The wake up call was 0430: I landed in Dunedin at 1730. Yesterday’s blog was written during a layover in Christchurch. Some say one should not travel on the Sabbath.

We drive ten miles to church. And Christ healed on the Sabbath. In my training, one of my good colleagues was of the tribe and she had been taught that as a physician it was her duty to work on the Jewish Sabbath, for saving a life and healing is more important. (We swapped Passover and Easter so we would be able to attend worship).

When it comes to the Sabbath, I am not an absolutist. We aim to have the family have a meal with us. This takes work: going to worship takes work.

But this I know: the command to take a day off during the week was given to us for our own good. Otherwise we will never allow the strains and aches, of body and mind, to heal.

And Christ did not sin in his actions.

John 9:1-17

¹As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. ⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. ⁸The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹²They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. ¹⁷So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

In Christ, we have some liberty when it comes to the law. This should be used for good, not for evil. We need to ensure days off: the idea of closing most things on Sunday is socially cohesive.

But we need to do more. We need to say that Christ is the prophet. More than a prophet: he is God, and God incarnate in this world, accused by the very religious leaders who taught the law of Moses of blasphemy, and executed by the amenable authorities.

For our transgressions.

There are too many churches and people preaching another gospel. We should not: for the sake of our souls we cannot. Otherwise, we are left with mud on our eyes, blinded, and refusing to do his command and wash our face.