Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath^(A)

12 At that time, Jesus walked through the grain fields on a Sabbath.^[a] His disciples became hungry and began picking heads of grain to eat. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they told him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

³ But he told them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ How is it that he went into the house of God and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him and his companions to eat but was reserved^[b] for the priests? ⁵ Or haven’t you read in the Law that on every Sabbath^[c] the priests in the Temple violate the Sabbath^[d] and yet are innocent?^{[e] 6} But I tell you, something greater than the Temple is here! ⁷ If you had known what ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice’^[f] means, you would not have condemned the innocent, ⁸ for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”