This history is as follows. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, It granted freedom to slaves in confederate states. This was not very enforceable while the war continued. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The war east of the Mississippi was ending. The war continued west of the Mississippi for almost two more months. Kirby Smith surrendered to John Pope onboard the USS Fort Jackson in Galveston Bay on June 2, 1865. General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas. It announced, “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor” (archives.org). The order was read in four places when it was originally proclaimed: Ashton Villa, Reedy AME Chapel, U.S. Customs House and Courthouse, and the Osterman Building. (Celebrating Juneteenth in Galveston June 6, 2023 by Taylor Bounds, Galveston.tamu.edu). As a personal note, the U.S. Customs House is now owned by the Hodge Law Firm. Shaun Hodge is my brother. [The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be ratified Dec. 6, 1865, abolishing slavery.]. June 19th (shortened to Juneteenth) began to be celebrated by freed-slaves. It became a Texas state holiday in 1979. It became a federal holiday in 2021.
If I, or my family, had been a slave, Juneteenth would be life-changing. News of emancipation came to the most westward confederate state. Freedom!
How truly special the first day of the week should be to us. Jesus “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:25). Jesus was raised for our justification. “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:21). No wonder we read, “Now on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7 cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Consider what some early writers said. Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.) “And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district we make our assembly in common on the day of the sun… For they crucified him on the day before Saturn’s day, and on the day after (which is the day of the sun) he appeared to his apostles (Everett Ferguson, Early Christians Speak, pp. 67-68 quoting from Apology I, 67-1-3, 7). Tertullian (c. 150-222 A.D.). “Others… suppose that the sun is the god of the Christian, because it is well known that… we regard Sunday as a day of joy” ibid, quoting to the Nations 1:13). The epistle of Barnabas (late first or early second century), “We keep the eighth day with joy, on which Jesus arose from the dead and when he appeared ascended into heaven” (ibid, quoting 15:8).
May we never take our freedom from sin as a small thing. Let us truly lift up our voices in praise to God every first day of the week.
Bryan Hodge 