If you lived over two thousand years ago, there is a good chance that you would have not followed the seven day week. Yet, something happened forever altered the way that all of humanity scheduled their every day lives and the world has never been the same. Listen to Father Mayer explain the fascinating history of the meaning of Sunday and the world shattering event of the resurrection. This homily was given on April 17, 2022.
If you lived over two thousand years ago, there is a good chance that you would have not followed the seven day week. Yet, something happened forever altered the way that all of humanity scheduled their every day lives and the world has never been the same. Listen to Father Mayer explain the fascinating history of the meaning of Sunday and the world shattering event of the resurrection. This homily was given on April 17, 2022.
During the French revolution they tried to get rid of Sunday by moving to ten day weeks. The Soviet Union tried to do the same with five and six day week. These attempts of course failed. About a hundred and fifty years ago there was this idea, not to get rid of Sunday, but to just move it a bit in order to tidy up the calendar so that holidays, your birthday, or any day really would always fall on the same day of the week by having a few extra unspecified movable days at the end of the year. Though many countries were in favor of this, it did not fly because too many people could not fathom touching or moving in any way, Sunday, even adjusting it by only a day or two a year. There is something incredibly unique about Sunday that in the last two thousand years has become so embodied in the human psyche that it is now virtually unchangeable. Your life revolves around Sunday and the seven day week that goes with it. You use it to decide with others when to meet together and how to coordinate life. So today, I would like to invite you to consider with me why this is. What is the big deal about Sunday and how does this effect you, your greater purpose, meaning and actions?
Calendar Change that Worked: In ancient times, for thousands of years people all over the world had different lengths of weeks, West Africans used a 4 day cycle, the Assyrians 6, Egyptians 10, Chinese 15, Germans 5, Romans 8. And then, in the first century something so extraordinary happened that caused the seven day week, heralded by Sunday to not only stick, but to spread around the world and to take over every other system of numbering the week. That momentous thing that happened was of course the resurrection.
- New Creation: Why did the resurrection have such a tremendous impact on nearly everyone, those who believed and those who did not? The fathers of the Church talked about the new creation that was coming about because of the resurrection. They wrote about Jesus rising on the first day of the week, but they also described him as rising on the eighth day of the week. You are probably asking, “The eighth day of the week? I thought there were only seven days in a week. What are you talking about, the eighth day? Well, in the mind of the Church Fathers the first seven days were the original creation, therefore, symbolically, the eighth day of the week, or the first day of the second week, was there way of saying that Jesus’ rising from the dead was the beginning of a radical new creation, that the resurrection changed everything. Nothing was going to be the same. It was as though a new era was beginning, as it says in the book of Revelation, “Behold I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). St. Paul wrote “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The disciples shared that Jesus could change your entire life. He could create something radically new inside of you. He could actually change your heart completely. No, this wasn’t particularly a physical thing, though it very well could be, but it was indeed an act of new creation, something so exciting and so incredible that it would begin spreading around the world like wildfire. Something so amazing happened, so out of this world, that the covenant day of rest and worship for God’s people changed from Saturday to Sunday to commemorate this event.
- Meeting to Look Forward: Sunday, the first day of the week reminds us of Christ’s resurrection, but also looks forward to what is to come. It looks forward to your own resurrection one day. It is in this spirit that Christians began meeting on Sunday for rest and worship. Acts 20:7 says that the Christians gathered on the first day of the week to break bread, breaking bread of course being a nickname for the Mass, for Holy Communion. St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:2 about setting side offerings on the first day of the week. Why, well because that is when the Christians gathered in commemoration of Christ’s resurrection. Here at St. James we follow the ancient Christian custom of worshipping facing East toward the rising sun, another symbol of resurrection and also a reminder of new creation since worshiping facing the light reminds one of the first day of the week that God created light, a reminder of what is to come, of the hope that has come into the world and is filling the world with light.
Today is the day of the resurrection, the day that changed everything, the day that cemented the seven day week for the entire world. Resurrection, new creation, and gives us hope for what is to come and it is for this reason that we gather together on Sunday, to commemorate what happened on this day and what is to come.
How to Celebrate: Because this is such a momentous day with such great meaning, you and I, in worship of God, in gratefulness of all that has taken place, the creation of the world, our familial relationship with God, Christ’s death and resurrection for us, are called to remember it in a special way. Sunday for us as Christians is the Lord’s day, resurrection day, which is why we celebrate it differently than others. I cannot be just another day of week. So, I would like to invite you to consider how you celebrate this day, how do you practice Sunday, resurrection day?
- Public: For the ancient Israelites, the Sabbath was an outward and public sign of their relationship with God. This was not something that you could easily hide. “Hey Bob, I want to buy some bread, why aren’t you opening the shop today? Oh it’s the Sabbath and you are going to go to synagogue and hear the Torah read? Don’t you want to make some money instead? I want to buy your bread.” If you were keeping the Sabbath, it effected not only you, but also those around you, it was an outward and public action. It was one that required sacrifice as does any relationship worth its chops. I bring this up because there are some people who believe that they can pray privately to God in their homes and that they do not need to go to Church on Sunday and while it is definitely good to pray in your house, Sunday is a special day, a day when you publically affirm your identity as part of God’s family, coming together with the people of God for rest and worship.
- Important/Sin: In fact, in ancient Israel remembering and keeping holy the Sabbath was so important that if you violated the Sabbath the penalty was death. That’s how important the Sabbath was, this sign of your relationship with God. The Sabbath was really, really, really important to the Israelites and to God of course. Now as far as I know, there was never anyone put to death for violating the Sabbath, even in ancient times since they had all of these laws that required one going to court and having multiple witnesses of the violation, etc, etc. so as far as we can tell, the penalty never really took place, but nonetheless, this law drove home the point about how sacred it was to keep the Sabbath. So, also for us as Catholics Sunday is our Sabbath and we consider it to be just as important. Sunday attendance at Mass is a precept of the Church. In other words, if you know that Sunday is for rest and public worship at Mass is important and required, and you deliberately miss Sunday Mass, this is what the Church calls a mortal sin, sin that causes spiritual death. Now, you might be sitting there thinking “Oh no! I didn’t realize how important Sunday is! I didn’t know that deliberately missing Mass was a mortal sin! This means that I’m spiritually dead – separated from God right now. I’ve got to get to confession and get this taken care of!” However, no worries. You didn’t know, so you are fine. Of course, now you do know, so remember to whom much is known, much is required 😊.
Sunday is who we are as God’s people. It is the family gathering where we rest and come together publically for worship. I is the Lord’s day, resurrection day, the primary identifier as those who are part of his family. It’s super important, so important that we honor God by being careful to celebrate it correctly.
So, what is the big deal about Sunday? It is the day of new creation, a day of hope, one that looks forward to the resurrection of your own body, the resurrection of all of those who have died in Christ. It is our day, the day in which we publically affirm that we are part of God’s family. Today is Easter, the day when we especially remember Christ’s resurrection from the dead and all that it means to us, but also the day when we remember that every Sunday, is in a way a little Easter, the day of resurrection, that day that fills us with hope and joy. Amen.