Mark 2:23-28
Chapter 2
23
On the Sabbath
One Sabbath, he was walking through grain fields. As his disciples walked alongside him, they began picking the heads of grain and crushing them in their hands.24
Then the Pharisees said to Jesus:
“Look! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”
25
And he said to them:
“Have you never read what David did in his time of need, when he and his men were very hungry?
26
He entered the House of God when Abiathar was High Priest and ate the bread of the offering, which only priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to the men with him.”
27
Then Jesus said to them:
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath.”
Commentaries
On the Sabbath.
The Law allowed people to satisfy their hunger by cutting ears of grain as they passed through a field, except on the Sabbath (Ex 34:21; Dt 23:26). The disciples, who had learned from Jesus that they are free from the Law, are now accused by the Pharisees of not obeying it. Jesus, in the best style of the scribes, turns to the Scriptures (1 Sm 21:1-7) to show that the criterion of the Law is the health and salvation of human beings. No law, word, or action that oppresses, marginalizes, or excludes them can have God’s support.