Dear Gramps,

Why do people worship on Sunday if Jesus worshiped on
Saturday? Shouldn’t we do what Jesus did since He is our example?

Trinity

Dear Trinity,

The Sabbath was instituted to commemorate the day of rest that the Lord observed following the creation of the world. This was on the last day of the week or Saturday. Later observance of the Sabbath was to commemorate the redemption of the children of Israel from Egypt.

After Christ’s resurrection, which was on Sunday, the members of the Church observed the first day of the week as holy in recognition of His resurrection. In Acts 20, we read where Christ’s disciples partake of the Sacrament on Sunday: “7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them…” Also in 1^st Corinthians 16,  Paul counsels the saints to observe the first day of the week as the Lord’s Day. The practice of observing the first day of the week as the Lord’s day was also referenced by many early Christian writers. We have been commanded as well to observe Sunday as the Lord’s Day. (D&C 59)

The following is given in the Bible Dictionary concerning the observance of the Lord ’s Day: “The first day of the week is meant, being the day of our Lord’s resurrection and also the day on which the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles…It was never confounded with the Sabbath, but carefully distinguished from it.”

Gramps