Mark 2:23-28

A question about the Sabbath Mark 2:23-28: Jesus and His disciples were condemned by the Pharisees for picking grain on the Sabbath. They were not condemned for taking the grain. Deuteronomy 23:24-25 gave the right for personal use of the grain. They just could not take any away. The Pharisees said, "Why are your disciples picking grain on the Sabbath? They are not supposed to do that!" The Pharisees objection was because they did this on the Sabbath.

Jesus asked them, "Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him." Jesus wanted them to know that they had read this account and that they were just being inconsistent about their reactions to the two situations. During the days of Abiathar the high priest David and his men ate the bread that had been on the table in the tabernacle. It had served its religious purpose and therefore it was no desecration of it for David to eat it. Jesus concluded by saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." He wanted it understood that "the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath." Law is no greater than the authority behind it. Jesus and His Father had given the Sabbath Law.