Mark 2:23-28 Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

It happened that He was passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

When people are trying to act pious, they are often times accused of being legalistic. This is a failure to confuse the letter of the law with the real heart intent of the law and of grace. The law was not intended to be written on tablets of stone, but instead written on the hearts of men (thus the New Covenant). So Jesus explains to the Judaizers that this law, the Sabbath, was made for man and not the other way around. Therefore Jesus and his father David were right in their understanding and imitate what the Father himself would do.

Daily Prayer: Father, let us not quarrel over what this dot or tiddle mean. Instead, by Your hand, guide us in righteousness and a humble life before You. In Jesus name I pray Amen.