How do we number our days and week? Many people live for Friday (TGIF). Some people resent Sunday evening, seeing it as the climax of the weekend, signaling the return of another work week. Recently I overheard a conversation between two members of Mount Cross. A young man in our congregation was asked, “How’s your Sunday going?” He replied, “Well it’s the end of the week and I’ve got school tomorrow.” I was walking in the hall and offered a passing comment: “Sunday is the first day of the week, the beginning of the week, not the last day.” Am I accurate or in error? It all depends on how one does the counting. How do we number our days?
In the beginning, God entered darkness & chaos and created light & order. According to the Book of Genesis, there was evening and morning, Day One. God numbers each day starting with evening; we number our days starting at midnight (tradition began in the Middle Ages). The Jewish day begins at sunset; 6 p.m. God creates the world in six days; Saturday evening-Friday evening. On the seventh day God rested. On Friday evening at sundown, Sabbath begins. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” So Saturday is the seventh day and Sunday is the first day of the week. Are we all in agreement? But when does Sunday begin? Technically, it begins on Saturday evening when Sabbath concludes at sunset (6 p.m.). Each day begins with rest/sleep, not breakfast and a full day of work. If the day begins with the previous evening, then perhaps that’s why we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.
Teach us, O Lord, to number our days. Counting, learning our numbers, is one of the first things small children learn to do. Recognize the phrase, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift that’s why we call it the present?” Sing with me: “Time, like an ever-rolling stream, soon bears us all away; we fly forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day.”—LBW #320. This beloved hymn of the church—O God, Our Help in Ages Past—finds its roots & words in Psalm 90. The Psalmist reminds us that our life on earth is like a dream, a sigh, or grass that withers. Life is short; here today and gone tomorrow. The Book of James reminds us that our life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Woe to the one who presumes that he or she has all the time in the world and puts off for tomorrow what can be done today. Jesus said, “Don’t worry about food or clothing. Don’t fret about life. Don’t be anxious about tomorrow; today is enough. The hairs on your head are numbered.” God’s got you covered! The Psalmist exhorts the listening ears to hear: “So teach us, O Lord, to number our days that we may gain a wise heart”—Psalm 90:12. Jesus was in the wilderness tempted by Satan for forty days. The season of lent is forty days long. How do we number the days of lent? We begin with Easter and work backwards. We begin with Ash Wednesday and conclude our count on Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil. Do the math and you’ll discover that the numbers don’t exactly work. Why? Because the six Sundays in lent are not days of lent. Each year during Holy Week we celebrate the Triduum; Latin word meaning “three days”: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. These “Three Days” remind us of death and rebirth. During these three days, the focus is on one event – the Passover of the Lord; our Easter. Jesus predicted his passion and announced the promise of the Third Day several times throughout his ministry: “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again”—Mark 9:31. Jesus promises us the gift of the Third Day. How do we number our days? Jesus is crucified on Friday afternoon (Day One); He is buried and lays in the tomb Friday night-Saturday night (Day Two); and Jesus rises from the dead sometime on the third day, which begins on Saturday night (Day Three). Remember, the Jewish people number their days at sunset, not midnight. N.T. Wright, bishop of Durham, in his book The Challenge of Easter, writes: “On the seventh day God rested in the darkness of the tomb; having finished on the sixth day all his work of joy and doom. Now the word had fallen silent, and the water had run dry, the bread had all been scattered, and the light had left the sky. The flock had lost its shepherd, and the seed was sadly sown, the courtiers had betrayed their king, and nailed him to his throne. O Sabbath rest by Calvary, O calm of tomb below, where the grave-clothes and the spices cradle him we did not know! Rest you well, beloved Jesus, Caesar’s Lord and Israel’s King, in the brooding of the Spirit, in the darkness of the spring”—pp. 33-34. Then came the Third Day. Recognize these words? “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark (sometime Saturday p.m.-Sunday a.m.) Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb”—John 20:1. How do we number our days? Sunday is the first day of the week. Sunday is the Lord’s Day; the day of our Lord’s rising. Every Sunday is a “little Easter;” a celebration of our Lord’s Passover and our daily participation in the dying and rising of Jesus. The first day of the week is Sunday; also known as the eighth day, the first day of the new creation. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Ever notice a baptismal font with eight-sides? Such a font reminds us that on the first day of the week (creation), God said, “Let there be light.” On the first day of the week (new creation)—the eighth day—the Light of the world, Jesus, came forth from the tomb announcing the death of death: “The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.” How do we number our days? The Psalmist writes: “Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath”—Psalm 39:4. In Genesis, God breathes and life happens. On Easter, God breathes and eternal life happens. Resurrection is not just our future, it is our present. On the Lord’s Day—Pentecost—the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the assembled church and each one preaches as the Spirit gives them utterance (Acts 2). On the Lord’s Day, St. John exiled on Patmos is in the Spirit when he receives the revelation of Jesus Christ: “The Lamb who was slain has begun his reign; alleluia” (Rev. 1:10). On the Lord’s Day, the early church broke bread with glad and generous hearts (Acts 20:7). On the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, an offering was received for the work of the Gospel (I Cor. 16:2). Sunday is the first day of the week; a day that teaches us how to number our days with a wise heart. By the grace of God, my days are numbered and so are yours! Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is the first day of the week, because on the third day Jesus rose from the dead and God created the eighth day. Welcome to the new creation! Blessed Easter to you and yours! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Pastor Dave Steffenson
