As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. 24 At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 26 How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. 28 That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
The Pharisees strictly adhered to the Mosaic Law and there was an obligation for Jews to abstain from work on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10). The sabbath was a day of rest and a day for communal worship of God (Ex; 20:11). The Pharisees interpreted the disciples picking the heads of grain as working on the Sabbath which was a capital offense (Ex. 31:15). Instead of addressing whether the disciples were breaking the Law, Jesus addressed the purpose of the Law which is for the benefit of mankind. The Law demanded love and demanded that human needs be addressed. If the action by the disciples had occurred on any other day of the week it would have been allowed by the Law; “When you go through your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain (Deut. 23:26).”
Jesus’ story about David and the bread of offering was somewhat different from how it was written in the OT (1 Sam. 21:1-6). It does not deal with the issue of breaking the Sabbath, but it draws a parallel between David and Jesus. The bread of offering was comprised of 12 loaves of bread placed on the gold table in the sanctuary each sabbath. They were to be eaten by the priests when the new bread of offering was placed in the sanctuary the next sabbath (Lev. 24:5-9). The law of sabbath rest was meant to benefit man and does not take primacy over the needs of men. Man was not created just to observe the Sabbath.
Mark wanted to inspire the early Christian community with this story because the Gentile Christians did not observe the Sabbath. He wanted them to understand that Christian Sabbath observance was based on the authority of Jesus. The Sabbath observance must take into consideration basic human needs – food, shelter, and clothing. The old observance of the Sabbath comes into sharp contrast with the new teaching of Jesus. The Son of Man, Jesus, is Lord of the Sabbath because it was made for him. Jesus can make this declaration because he and the Father are one (Jn. 10:30), and because of the authority given to him by his Father (Mt. 28:18). If he has the power to forgive sins (Mk. 2:5-12) he also has the power to interpret the Torah.
Almighty God, to seek you we need your grace, and to serve you we need your wisdom. Fill us with your divine love so that we may sustain through the vicissitudes of life and serve you in truth with unyielding faith. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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