Luke 6:1–5

 ¹ Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. ² And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” ³ But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” ⁵ And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

Commentary

Vs. 1-2 ¹ Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. ² And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

In what was such an innocent act Jesus with His disciples while passing through some grain fields will pluck some heads of grain with their hands and rubbing them in their hands to break them open then eat them. Now there is nothing unlawful in what they did (see Deut. 23:5). Nonetheless because the Pharisees had such an unsound and hardened understanding of the law, and it’s Sabbath regulations, their interpretation of the Sabbath meant that even the disciples rubbing their hands together to open the grain they plucked to feed themselves was by their strict measure “working on the Sabbath.” Therefore, when they saw Jesus’ disciples doing so, immediately they took great offense at the disciples, and Jesus for letting them do so.

Vs. 3-5 ³ But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” ⁵ And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

Now in Jesus’ reply to them He neither regards nor mentions their misunderstandings and interpretations of the law and Sabbath. Because clearly, they had elevated the Sabbath to a place which neither God, nor the law which God gave to govern it, ever intended it to be elevated too. Therefore, Jesus cities to them David’s example of eating the priest’s showbread while fleeing from then king Saul and his murderous pursuits of him. Now the fact the David did so with the then officiating priest’s assistance shows that both of them understood that David as God’s king in waiting was fully justified in doing so (see 1 Samuel 21:1-9), because he was in fact God’s rightful chosen king, and he was to be the one to usher in the throne which the Son of Man the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s Eternal King and High Priest is the only Heir too. Therefore, Jesus having cited David’s example to them then says unequivocally to them: “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Therefore, Jesus is not just Lord of His disciples and David (whom the Jews all revere), but He is also Lord of the Sabbath, which they had elevated to heights which God never had. For God did not create man for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man (see Mark 2:27) as a day of rest for him, but they had only turned it into a legalistic burden, something that is not unique to them. Therefore, because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, allowing His disciples to pluck the heads of grain and break them open with their hands so that they could eat them is fully lawful for both Him and them to do, because the Word of God is not bound by the self-imposed religious ordinances of man (John 1:1).

Scripture Quotations

New King James Version. (1982): Thomas Nelson