On the Road with Jesus: Food, Healing, and the Sabbath

We’ve seen so far that Jesus was not what the people of Israel expected in a Messiah. He talked about being sent to the Gentiles after all! Now, we’re going to see that Jesus wasn’t quite the “observant Jew” that the Pharisees thought He should be.

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:1-11)

Before we begin, we should clarify something. In saying Jesus wasn’t the observant Jew that the religious people thought He should be, we don’t mean that He didn’t keep God’s standards for Israel. In fact, Jesus claimed to always do what pleases the Father (John 8:29). It’s just that He wasn’t keeping the Law according to the traditions and rules of the Pharisees. As we’ll see on this journey, Jesus redefined (or defined properly) what real obedience looks like.

There are two different scenes in our passage, but they revolve around a single subject: the Sabbath. In the first scene, verses 1-5, Jesus and His disciples are outside on the Sabbath plucking the heads of grain in a grain field, and “rubbing the heads in their hands.” Now, a little background. The Law of Moses permitted this. We see this in Deuteronomy 23:25:

If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

So, Jesus and His disciples were doing what was permitted in the Law. What’s the problem then? The problem is the Pharisees considered “rubbing the heads between their hands” to be work, which was not to be done on the Sabbath. But, that was added to the law much later. Jesus calls such things “traditions.” He gives two responses to the Pharisees: One about the law and the other about the Lawgiver. First, He appeals to the story of David, found in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. There we read this:

Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

We need to notice two things in this story. First, it was not a Sabbath. Second, David did something that was not lawful (under the Law of Moses). What is Jesus’ point in reminding the Pharisees of the story? By citing this instance, He implicitly approves of the action of David eating the bread. Infringement of the rule to meet a genuine human need received no condemnation. So, His point is that ceremonial rites have to give way to higher moral concerns (in this case human need).

After giving that analogy, Jesus then turns to Himself. He simply says, “The Son of Man” (His favorite term for Himself) is lord of the Sabbath.” What does this mean? As one with the Father, Jesus is the only one who can truly define what was intended by the law. And He often did re-interpret the Law, moving it away from the traditions of the religious leaders.

The second scene, in verses 6-11, takes place in a synagogue on a different Sabbath. Luke tells us that Jesus was teaching and that there was “a man there whose right hand was withered.” After the previous confrontation over the Sabbath, the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely. They wanted to find reason to discredit and accuse Him. So, we know right from the beginning their motives weren’t pure.

Notice that Jesus “knew their thoughts,” meaning the desire of the Pharisees and scribes to accuse Him. So, what does He do? He calls the man with the withered hand up front. He intends to meet the challenge head-on. Notice also the question Jesus asks of the religious leaders:

Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?

This is really a rhetorical question, the obvious answer, one would think, is “to do good; to save life.” But, the leaders have no intention of engaging in that discussion, so they remain silent. (Mark’s account, in Mark 3:1-6, tells us that Jesus “looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”) Jesus then simply tells the man, “Stretch out your hand.” There’s no suggestion that Jesus touched the man, only that He gave the man a command.

Stretch out your hand.

What happened when the man obeyed? His hand was fully restored, just like the other one. Before we get to the reaction of the Pharisees, let’s think about the implications of what just happened. Jesus gave the man a command. He didn’t say, “If you’ll just exercise your faith, your hand will be healed.” No. He gave the man a command. Stretch out your hand. What can we learn from this?

When we obey the command of Jesus, our faith is evident and we see His purpose in our lives.

The Jewish leaders’ reactions had nothing to do with faith. Luke tells us “they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.” Mark is even more emphatic. He writes, “The Pharisees immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.” Now, one thing we need to know is that the Pharisees did not like the Herodians. They were rivals, in fact. But they hated Jesus so much that they consulted with their political and religious rivals to get rid of Him.

The leaders considered healing on the Sabbath to be work, in violation of the Law of Moses. Again, Jesus teaches us that the Law was not meant to be a burden to man. Rules are never to be enforced to the exclusion of human need. Remember His question to the Pharisees?

Is it lawful . . . to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?

Same question, except for removing the words “on the Sabbath.” When Jesus asked that question to the Pharisees, the implication of the question is this: Not only are we to do good and save life, but to fail to do so is unlawful. And if that is true on the Sabbath, then it’s true on every other day as well.

We are to do good to others, helping preserve life and not destroy it. The law of Christ is always focused on the needs of people over rules and regulations.