The Question About the Sabbath^(A)

12 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry and began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat. ² But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

³ But He said to them, “Have you not read what David and those who were with him did when he was hungry, ⁴ how he entered the house of God and ate the ritual bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ⁵ Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, but are blameless? ⁶ I say to you, in this place there is One who is greater than the temple. ⁷ If you had known what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”