READ: Luke 6:1-11: … to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath …
On the day of rest, the Sabbath, Jesus is on His way with His disciples to the synagogue to preach. On the way, they walk through grainfields. As they walk, the disciples pluck heads of grain and eat the kernels. This is not a sin, because in doing so they provide food for themselves (Deut. 23:25).
Yet the Pharisees object to this. They have added their human rules to the Sabbath commandment. They also monitor people to ensure that these rules are observed, so that the Sabbath has become more a matter of distress than of delight.
Jesus answers on behalf of His disciples. He points them to what God’s Word says about what David did with the showbread. The showbread, when it was no longer fresh, could be eaten by the priests as God’s servants. Now David and his men, who were not priests, satisfied their hunger so that they could continue their service to God. Surely God instituted the Sabbath to help people honor Him as God? And is Jesus not greater than David? He is the Son of Man and therefore has authority over the Sabbath, does He not? Such a human prohibition against plucking heads of grain for food is therefore entirely misplaced.
There are more confrontations between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees concerning the Sabbath. They continually look for an opportunity to eliminate Jesus. Thus, on another Sabbath, in the synagogue where Jesus is teaching from the Scriptures, there is a man whose right hand is withered. He is severely disabled, with all the consequences this has for his daily activities and income.
Jesus knows the Jewish Sabbath rule that a person may be rescued only in life-threatening situations, and He challenges this: is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath by healing someone, or to do evil? To heal him is to deliver him; to refrain from doing so means his destruction.
Jesus then looks at everyone, angry and grieved, but they remain silent. He then heals the man, to the great anger of the scribes and Pharisees; they are already deliberating how they can put Him to death (Mk. 3:6)!
Why did people make such an issue of the Sabbath in particular?
Sing: Ps. 92:1,2