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.”
Being strict adherers of the Law, the Pharisees understood the disciples picking the heads of grain as working on the Sabbath which was a capital offence; “Six days there are for doing work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord. Anyone who does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death (Ex. 31:15).” The Rabbis forbade thirty-nine activities on the Sabbath. One can ask what were the pious Pharisees doing in the grain field on the Sabbath. 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).”
The story the author told about David and attributed to Jesus was somewhat different from how it was written in the OT (1 Sam. 21:1-6) and does not deal with the issue of breaking the Sabbath, but it does draw a parallel between David and Jesus. 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, 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 of his close union with God and because of the authority given to him by his Father. If Jesus has the power to forgive sins (Mk. 2:5-12) he also has the power to interpret the Torah.
Almighty and omnipotent God, you promised to take care of our needs if we seek your kingdom and your righteousness. But even to seek you we need your grace, and to understand how to serve you we need your wisdom. Fill us with your knowledge and love so that we may sustain through the vicissitudes of life and serve you in truth with unyielding faith. This we pray through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen!
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References
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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