In the first occurrence mentioned by Luke, Jesus and His disciples were walking through the grainfields where they rubbed grain in their hands and ate because they were hungry (Luke 6:1; Matthew 12:1), but some of the Pharisees were nearby and accused them of doing something that was not lawful on the Sabbath day (Luke 6:2). The Pharisees interpreted the rubbing of the grain in their hands as working on the Sabbath; however, this was a lie of the Pharisees because the Old Testament law actually permitted people to eat grain from the fields of farmers as long as they were not doing it for a profit or taking it with them to sell for profit (Deuteronomy 23:25). Jesus quickly answered the accusations of the Pharisees by providing them with an Old Testament illustration (1 Samuel 21:1-9) of when David and his men ate bread given to them by the priests at the tabernacle, even though the priests were the only ones permitted to eat the bread (6:3-4). Jesus then said to the Pharisees, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (6:5). As David and his men were granted permission to eat bread reserved only for priests, Jesus (being God) and His disciples were also above man-made laws. In this case, Jesus and His disciples were hungry so they ate grain from the field, but the Pharisees elevated obedience to their strict set of rules instead of understanding the needs of the disciples.
The second incident occurs when Jesus enters the synagogue on the Sabbath day and teaches the people who have gathered (6:6a). A man with a withered hand was also present in the synagogue along with the Pharisees, who were watching Jesus to see if He would heal this man on the Sabbath (6:6b-7). Jesus, knowing the thoughts of the Pharisees, asked the man to stand before Him and then He asked the people, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy?” (6:8-9) After asking this question (with an obvious answer) to the Pharisees, Jesus heals the man with the withered hand, “but they [the Pharisees] were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus” (6:10-11). They could not accuse Jesus of doing work on the Sabbath because it was simply His spoken words which brought healing to this man.
Both of these incidents on the Sabbath day demonstrate that the so-called religious leaders of Jesus’ day were not interested in the well-being of people, but only in the people keeping the laws they had created. When the restoration of people is forsaken because of a greater commitment to man-made rules, something is terribly wrong.
Dear God, may the lives and well-being of people always be more important than human tradition and rules.
