A Meditation for the Twelfth Sunday of the Year: the New Things of Christ

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Categorised as Featured and published Saturday, June 20th, 2009
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Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), Resurrection of Christ, São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil

Religions before Christ came ever had holy days and festivals, both among heathen and Jews. The Gospel has not done away with holy days, only it has changed them, and made them more truly holy. For instance, it has not destroyed the Feast of one day in seven, or the Lord’s day; not to mention other instances. This is the more remarkable, because St. Paul’s words are at first sight very strong against the observance, under the Gospel, of any days above others, as a matter of religion. He finds fault with the Galatians, because they observe “days, and months, and times, and years.” [Gal. 4: 10] And he bids the Colossians not to let any man “judge them in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.” [Col. 2: 16-17]

Who would not, at first sight, suppose from these words, that all holy days, all holy seasons, were to be done away, under the Gospel, as mere shadows,—Sunday, Christmas-day, Easter-tide, Lent, and all the rest? Yet it is not so. The Apostles in the Acts, and St. John in the Revelation, observe and recognise the Lord’s day as a Gospel festival. Jewish days are shadows, but Christian are not … works of the Law, avail not, but Christian works avail. The weekly festival is not one of the “old things” which have “passed away” in Christ, neither have righteous works. The Sabbath has “become new” by becoming the Lord’s day; works become new, by becoming spiritual.

From the sermon ‘The New Works of the Gospel’ (1840) Click here for the full text (leaves site)