Mt 12:1-8
People versus law: The basic issue here is Sabbath observance. Because of their hunger, Jesus’ disciples pick grain on the Sabbath. Since this action is considered equivalent to harvesting, the Pharisees deem it unlawful.
People versus law: The basic issue here is Sabbath observance. Because of their hunger, Jesus’ disciples pick grain on the Sabbath. Since this action is considered equivalent to harvesting, the Pharisees deem it unlawful.
Jesus counters the Pharisees’ argument by reminding them of an Old Testament incident: the eating of the holy bread by David and his men (cf 1 Sm 21:2-7). This account, however, does not deal with the breaking of the Sabbath rest but with a violation of the law because David and his men were hungry and without food.
This example is typical of Jesus’ perspective on the law in the Gospel of Matthew. Human need, such as hunger (of the disciples and David and his men), takes precedence over the law. People are more important than the law.
Moreover, Jesus uses a legal example which contradicts itself. In order to observe the Sabbath laws concerning their Temple duties, the priests must break the law concerning Sabbath rest from work. What Matthew is arguing is this: even the law recognized that Temple duty was more important than observance of the Sabbath rest. In other words, there is a hierarchy of mandatory observance built into the law. One part of the law can be violated—indeed, is mandated by the law itself!—in favor of a more important part of the law.
Therefore, the satisfying of a human need—food—cannot be a violation of the Sabbath observance.