One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said 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 and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
We can picture the scene. It is the sabbath day. Jesus’ disciples absent-mindedly pluck heads of grain and eat. When Mark writes ‘they made their way’, he means to suggest that they meandered, so that their route through the fields reflected no particular urgency or purpose.
It seems some Pharisees were also travelling with Jesus: their questions are not posed after the fact, but on the way. Perhaps they are standing or walking alongside Jesus, surveying from a distance the actions of the disciples in the field.
The question from the Pharisees is legalistic. It is about what is lawful, i.e. what is allowed, on the Sabbath; and therefore it’s a question of authority. Who conferred authority on your disciples that they so freely transgress the laws of the sabbath? True to the nature of the question, Jesus offers a rabbinical response. He cites the scriptures, makes an analogy and proposes his argument: David, even in the presence of Abiathar, a revered and highly respected figure in the priestly tradition, ate and shared food on the sabbath. The sabbath was made for the good of humankind (rest). As such, its authority is not inherent but derived from its being for our good. In this sense it shouldn’t preclude other human goods such as physical sustenance. The grain and the sabbath equally are for the good of the disciples.
Authority over these things ultimately comes from God: anything he commands he commands for our good. Jesus – shockingly – claims this authority for himself. ‘The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath’. Thus the Pharisees are led from a legal-religious argument to a revelation about Jesus’ identity. Jesus, being God, has authority over the sabbath. And he confers such authority upon his followers – hence the early church replaced the Jewish sabbath with the ‘Lord’s Day’.