Even the writings of the Gospel writer Luke testify that the Sabbath was being kept by Christians after the resurrection of Jesus.

Let’s take a look at the following excerpt dealing with the burial of Jesus.

“Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day,and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” Luke 23:50–56

Notice the last sentence which I bolded and underlined.

According to this passage, the women who began to embalm and prepare the body of Jesus on the preparation day stopped what they were doing midway.

They did NOT complete their work.

Two important points can be gleaned from this.

First, they were still keeping the Sabbath after Jesus died.

Jesus’s death did not do away with the Sabbath.

Second, and this is the main point I want to make.

The earliest that the Book of Luke could have been written was about 62AD or about 30-plus years after the events that are being described here.

Now if Luke wanted to make the point that the Sabbath had been changed, it would have been easy to do.

He could have said that they kept the Sabbath “according to the traditions of the Jews”.

However, he didn’t say that.

Instead, Luke records that they kept the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

I believe that this is as clear evidence as there can be that at least 30 to 40 years after the time of Jesus, the Christians were not only keeping the Sabbath but doing it in obedience to God.

© Richoka