Mark 2:23 – 3:6
23One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He 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.” 27Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
1Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” 4Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
The first thing Jesus does is to call His first disciples – two pairs of brothers — Simon and Andrew, and James and John. Jesus simply tells them to follow Him, and they immediately leave everything and follow Him.
They go to Capernaum and they enter a synagogue on the sabbath. Jesus teaches and people are amazed. There is a man with an unclean spirit and Jesus commands the spirit to come out, and the man is made clean. People are amazed at this show of power. Jesus’ fame starts to spread.
Jesus then heals Simon’s mother-in-law, and by sundown, crowds are forming who want healings and exorcisms.
Jesus travels throughout Galilee preaching the good news, driving out demons, and healing, including a leper. His fame continues to grow.
Jesus then returns to Capernaum – He is using Capernaum as His base of operations. He heals a paralytic as well saying to the man that his sins are forgiven. Scribes are present, apparently being curious about this Jesus that everyone is talking about, and they take offense to what Jesus said, considering it as blaspheming.
Jesus then calls Levi to follow Him, and Levi gets up and follows, just like the others who were called. Scribes, who saw Jesus dining and fellowshipping with tax collectors and sinners were critical of Jesus.
Then we come to this morning’s passage. It includes two occasions that the Pharisees and scribes consider as breaking the Sabbath Law. The first is that Jesus’ followers were plucking heads of grain while they walked through the grainfields. The second is that Jesus heals a man with a withered hand.
What law is Jesus and His followers breaking, according to the scribes and Pharisees? The fourth of the Ten Commandments says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work.” This is also reiterated in Exodus 34:21 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15.
But was it an over-reaction on the part of the scribes and Pharisees that they started to seek ways to destroy Jesus? If we look at Exodus 31:14-15, it turns out that the religious leaders were following the law in their minds – “14You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. 15Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall be put to death.”
We can see that the punishment for working on the Sabbath was death, as it was clearly written in the Torah. What was up for interpretation was whether what Jesus and His followers did constitute “work”. Was plucking grain and healing work? The scribes and Pharisees believed that they were work, while Jesus did not.
For ordinary people to know how to live their lives lawfully, Mishnah and Talmud were developed. They explain to the people how to apply God’s laws in their daily lives, since people have the tendency to interpret laws to their liking. They were traditionally passed down orally and later written down – The Mishnah around 200 CE and the Talmud around 500 CE.
Interestingly, “plucking” and “healing” were not explicitly classified as “work”. However, among the 39 explicitly stated categories of “work”, harvesting was listed. It seems logical that one could interpret what Jesus followers did as “harvesting”. Although “healing” was not listed among “work”, it was discouraged, since healing often could require work, such as grinding to make medicine.
The acts themselves were not unlawful. Farmers were commanded to leave grain on stalks when they harvest, so that people in need could eat what was left. Healing was also not unlawful – In fact, saving lives when it was possible was required, even on a Sabbath. But according to how the scribes interpreted God’s laws, they deemed that what Jesus and His followers did was considered unlawful to perform on a Sabbath.
The irony here is that Jesus, being the Son of God, was more qualified than any human or group of humans to interpret God’s laws correctly. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. This is obvious to us, since we have the completed New Testament and that we live in the age after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, and we also have the Holy Spirit to help us understand all of this.
But these scribes and Pharisees are interpreting Jesus’ actions on Sabbaths as unlawful, which disqualifies Him as being the Messiah, even though Jesus is displaying great power. The way great crowds are being affected by Jesus worries them and they feel a responsibility to stop this powerful man.
It is important to note that Jesus was not going around breaking Sabbath laws just to make a statement – He was interpreting the Sabbath laws. The scribes were following the traditional interpretation of the Sabbath laws. The two sides had different approaches to interpreting these laws. The Pharisees’ approach emphasized precise legal boundaries – They tried to define what actions counted as violations. Jesus’ approach was to emphasize mercy, need and purpose of the laws.
John 8 had a story about the adulterous woman who people wanted to stone and Jesus ends up sparing her. The Old Testament laws had about twenty-five offenses that were deemed as capital and the punishment was death. Adultery was one of them. This highlights what Jesus’ mission is all about. We all have sinned and per God’s laws, we deserve death. In order to give us a chance to be saved, Jesus died on the cross and took the punishment we deserved. By accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are assured of eternal life.
In return for the assurance of eternal life, we are to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. We often think and feel like the scribes and Pharisees. When we see people living sinful lives, we focus on their sins. Instead, we need to extend God’s love to them so that they too can be forgiven for their sins.
(the above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano at our worship of May 10, 2026.)
Japanese Congregational Church 