As Jesus walks through a field with his disciples, their hunger prompts them to grab ears of corn and eat. This is more than the religious leaders can take, how can he allow his disciples do such a thing on the Sabbath?
As if to compound the issue, Jesus then has the audacity to heal a man on the Sabbath, two cases of working which causes Jesus' antagonists to plot to kill him. Why do such actions prompt such a violent response, and how does this encounter mirror our response to Jesus today? Encounters with Jesus consistently demand responses from us today, as though we stand alongside those who heard his words first hand.
23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
A Man with a Withered Hand
3:1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus,[1] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. (ESV)
