X X
X You sometimes encounter the charge that the
Catholic Church wrongly "changed the sabbath" from Saturday to Sunday.
This claim is often made by Seventh-Day Adventists, for example.
But even if one isn't accusing the Church of wrongdoing, the question can still arise:
Why do Catholics worship on Sunday rather than Saturday?
Here's the story . . . First, let's clear away a potential source
of confusion. While it's true that people sometimes speak of Sunday as "the Christian
sabbath," this is a loose way of speaking. Strictly speaking, the sabbath is the day
it always was--Saturday--though it should be noted that traditionally Jewish people
have celebrated the sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.
Sunday is a distinct day, which follows the sabbath. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
explains: Sunday is expressly distinguished from the
sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance
replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ's Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth
of the Jewish sabbath and announces man's eternal rest in God. For worship under the
Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was done there prefigured some aspects
of Christ. That same paragraph explains why we celebrate
on Sunday. For Christians the ceremonial observance of Sunday replaces that of the sabbath. Properly
speaking, we're not celebrating the sabbath on Sunday. We're celebrating something else,
but it's something that the sabbath points toward.
What we are celebrating instead of the sabbath is "the Lord's day."
That's something Christians have celebrated since the first century. In fact, in the very
first chapter of Revelation, we read that John experienced the inaugural vision of the
book on "the Lord's day." He writes: I John, your brother, who share with you in
Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called
Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
[Revelation 1:9-10]. And he goes on to describe the vision of Jesus
Christ he received. For our purposes, the important thing to note
is that he speaks of the Lord's day as an already-established thing. He expects his
readers to know what it is. So, when is it?
The first Christians commonly spoke of Jesus Christ as "the Lord," and the Lord's day is
Jesus Christ's day--the day he rose from the dead and his tomb was found empty. That's
the day after the sabbath, or Sunday. In Matthew's gospel we read:
Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Mag'dalene
and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be
afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has
risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay [Matthew 28:1, 5-6].
The fact that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week is something stressed
by all four gospels: And that's why Christians celebrate the Lord's
day. The Catechism explains: Jesus rose from the dead "on the first day
of the week." Because it is the "first day," the day of Christ's Resurrection recalls the
first creation. . . . For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of
all feasts, the Lord's day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica), Sunday.
We can confirm that the early Christians were meeting on the first day of the week from
the letters of St. Paul, because he tells the Corinthians to take up a collection on
that day of the week so that they won't have to take up a collection when he arrives. He
says: Now concerning the contribution for the saints:
as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.
On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up,
as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come [1 Corinthians 16:1-2].
He expects the collection to already be taken up by the time he arrives so that they don't
have to get people to give at that point. This indicates that the early Christians were
meeting on the first day of the week, celebrating the Lord's day.
Does that mean that no Christians in the first century ever celebrated the sabbath?
No. Many Jewish Christians celebrated both the sabbath and Sunday in the first century,
just as many also practiced the Jewish dietary laws and ritual circumcision and offered sacrifices
in the Temple. St. Paul himself went to synagogue services
on the sabbath so that he could preach the message of Jesus to his Jewish countrymen,
for that is where and when they would gather together.
But Paul is clear that sabbath observance is not binding on Christians.
He addresses this very directly in the letter to the Colossians, where he writes:
And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive
together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which
stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. . . .
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard
to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come;
but the substance belongs to Christ [Colossians 2:13-17].
When St. Paul refers to the bond which stood against us with its legal demands, he is referring
to the Law of Moses. Christ cancelled this bond. That is why he says not to let anyone
pass judgment on us in questions of food and drink--what is kosher and what isn't.
And he says not to let anyone judge us with regard to keeping a festival or a new moon
or a sabbath. Those are the three types of days on the Jewish liturgical calendar: the
annual feasts (like Yom Kippur), the monthly new moon, and the weekly sabbath.
All of these things had a symbolic value, which pointed forward to Christ, but now that
the substance which cast the shadow has come--Christ himself--the things pointing forward to him
are no longer needed. The Church Fathers agree. Thus in the early
A.D. 100s, we find St. Ignatius of Antioch writing:
Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer
keeping the sabbath, but the Lord's day, in which our life is blessed by him and by his
death [Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 9:1].
So let's loop back to our original question of whether the Catholic Church "changed the
sabbath." From what we've seen, it didn't. There was no Medieval pope or council who
said, "We're now going to celebrate the sabbath on Sunday."
The weekly sabbath is the day it always was--Saturday--the day before the Lord's day.
What's different is that Jewish Christians are no longer obligated to celebrate the sabbath,
because Jesus Christ himself fulfilled it and all the other Old Testament ceremonies
and instituted the New Covenant. And he had the authority to do that, for as
he himself told us: The Son of man is lord of the sabbath [Matthew
12:8]. Of course, Gentile Christians were never obligated
to celebrate the sabbath in the first place, because the Law of Moses was given to the
Jewish people and was only binding on them (in contrast to God's eternal, moral law,
which is binding on everyone). What we are obliged to celebrate is the Lord's
day, which fulfills the principles that were contained within the sabbath, including the
need to set aside adequate time for rest and worship.
But there wasn't a Medieval pope or council who instituted that, either. As we've, seen,
it's something that dates from the New Testament age itself. Thus the Catechism states:
This practice of the Christian assembly dates from the beginnings of the apostolic age.
The Letter to the Hebrews reminds the faithful "not to neglect to meet together, as is the
habit of some, but to encourage one another" [Hebrews 10:25].