There is a little phrase in Luke 4:16 which is slipped in by Luke amidst the episode where Jesus is returning to Nazareth on the Sabbath. As a good Jewish man he was expected at the synagogue on a weekly basis for worship. Now we know that Jesus felt totally free to break the standard interpretation of the old covenant laws that he felt was onerous or against the greater good – think of the number of times he actually challenged the Sabbath law interpretations in his healing ministry!
However, Luke tells us that when it came to Sabbath attendance at the synagogue that it was customary for Jesus to participate. “…and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.”
Whilst we surely don’t need to be legalistic about it; what would it be like if we, too, made weekly attendance at worship a priority such that people would say of us, “They be at church today; as is their custom”?
Blessings
Mark Wilkinson
Interim Pastor
