Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 “how he went into the house of God [in the days] of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?” 27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 “Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” 1 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched [it] out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

– Mark 2:23-3:6 (NKJV)

The Pharisees were telling Jesus that his disciples weren’t keeping the Sabbath. They had taken a serious command that was given to Israel for the flourishing of the people. Indeed, when the Sabbath day command was obeyed in Israel’s history the people did flourish. But I don’t think the Pharisees had the disciples flourishing at heart here. I think they just wanted to exert control and at this moment, it meant using this law to dress down Jesus and his disciples. They were more concerned with power than they were with the people. They were more set on being right than truly righteous. They aren’t concerned for the disciples hearts but Jesus is truly grieved by their hearts.

What they must not have known is that Jesus was fulfilling the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a day set aside to worship God. Rest in this context is worship because it means we are trusting God to provide even when we aren’t working….It is a confession that all of our work rests on God’s work.

Jesus reminds the Pharisees that Man wasn’t created by God for the Sabbath day, but that God had created the Sabbath for man. Jesus sees a man who was limited in his ability to keep the rest of the sabbath command (work is endorsed for six days). He then asks the man to do something he can’t do on his own… he must depend on God to heal him.

In this passage the Pharisees were looking to condemn the disciples and by implication, shame Jesus. But Jesus was looking to restore a man on that Sabbath day. (After all that is what the sabbath day was ultimately about). This should cause us to reflect on our own hearts. Are we hard hearted pharisees who look to condemn others or do we seek God and his purpose of restoring the broken?

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. Thank you that you care about our hearts. We want to honor you in the way we live. Please guide us in your will and direction for us. In Jesus Name, Amen.