IN Mark 2:23-28, we get an account of this. Also in Matt. 12 and Luke 6. Jesus and His disciples were going through the cornfields on the Sabbath day, and the disciples began to pull the ears of corn, and rub them out in their hands. Most likely the corn spoken of was wheat, and they pulled the heads of wheat, and rubbed them in their hands to get the grain separated from the chaff, in order to eat it. In Matt. 12, we are told that the disciples were hungry, and that is the reason why they pulled the corn and ate it.
When the Pharisees saw the disciples rubbing out the corn, they accused them of doing what was unlawful. Now, if you will read Dent. 23:25, you will see it was not unlawful to eat the corn. The law allowed a man to go into a field of corn and eat what he needed; but if he took a sickle and cut some of the grain to carry it away, he was guilty of stealing. It was their rubbing out the corn on the Sabbath day that the Pharisees considered unlawful.
Jesus referred the Pharisees to what David and his men did when they were hungry: how he ate of the shewbread, which was lawful only for the priests to eat. David had been anointed king of Israel, and Saul, whom the Lord had rejected because of his disobedience, hated David and wanted to kill him. And David was fleeing for his life. It was then that he got the shewbread from the high priest and ate it. And if David could do this, could not Jesus, the true King, permit His disciples to rub out the ears of corn and eat them on the Sabbath day? Do you think, if the leaders among the Jews had received Jesus as the King of Israel, that He and His disciples would have been allowed to go hungry? Oh, no; they would have had plenty to eat. But they were hungry, and this was proof that the rulers did not care for Jesus.
Read Exod. 31:13, and Ezek. 20:12, and you will see that the Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel, a sign of the covenant that God had made with them. But Israel had broken the covenant, and He who gave them the covenant was now present among them, in Jesus, and they did not care for Him; they despised and rejected Him. Of what use to them was their Sabbath-keeping? If they rejected Him who gave them the Sabbath, the Sabbath would not do them any good. Besides, the Sabbath was made for man’s blessing and not that he might suffer. And Jesus, the Son of man, was also Lord of the Sabbath. He had given it, and He could set it aside, and indeed He was about to do so because He was going to set Israel aside, to whom He had given the Sabbath. Perhaps in our next talk about Jesus, we will say something about this in connection with Him as the Lord of the Sabbath.
But may we not learn from this Scripture that the keeping of ordinances can do us no good if we do not love Him, who gave the ordinances, and submit to them, because it is His will? Do you love Jesus? Or are you like the Pharisees who did not care for Him, and who refused His authority? Do you ask how you can love Him? I would ask, how can you help loving Him, when He loved you enough to come and die for you? Believe His love to you, and you will love Him, and love to do His will.
ML 11/25/1900