6 29 03

10:30a

Luke 6:1-11

In verses 1 through 5, Luke tells us about Jesus walking with some of His disciples through a grainfield, and that a few of the disciples plucked some heads of grain and ate the kernels. The Pharisees were upset about this, asking why Jesus was doing wrong on the Sabbath (working). Jesus replied by reminding them (the Pharisees) of David and when he ate the consecrated bread which was only lawful for the priests to consume.

Then, Jesus said that the Son of Man was the Lord of the Sabbath. That�s as far as Luke goes on the subject.

In verses 6 through 11 Luke talks about another Sabbath when Jesus was �tested� by the Pharisees. They wanted to know if He would �work� on the Sabbath by healing a man with a crippled hand. Jesus asked the Pharisees whether it was lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath, to save life or destroy it. He then told the man with the crippled hand to stretch out said hand. When the man did so, all saw that the hand was whole. The Pharisees were ticked off about that though� that Jesus healed on the Sabbath.

Again, that�s where Luke leaves the story.

Now, in Mark 2:23 through Mark 3:6 Mark talks about the same stories, only his accounts are more detailed. The first accounting, the eating grain thing, has Jesus including a little background, that David�s eating of the consecrated bread took place in the days of Abiathar the high priest. Then, Jesus went on to explain that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Then Jesus said that because of this, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

The tale of healing on the Sabbath is not much changed. Mark includes only that the Pharisees weren�t only ticked off, but that they left to plot Jesus� death with the Herodians.

Neither Matthew nor John talk about these two events.

The point? It is more important to love one another and do what is right (within the Commandments) by people than to be sticklers for the Law. The Law is important� vital even, but sometimes a body can take the Law too seriously. Though we should strive to obey the Law exactly, to the letter, it is more important to do right by those around us, be nice to them, love them, help them, etc. It may be considered working to go through a field and pick grain on the Sabbath, but what Jesus was telling the Pharisees was that it�s only food� that if you�re hungry, eat.

All of these little quibbles and arguments can be done away with if you simply walk with Jesus. He doesn�t sin, ever. If you follow His footsteps, you won�t sin either.