Sabbath Stuff

 

Luke 6:1 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Early in His ministry, Jesus dealt with a major stumbling block in people understanding what He had been sent to do: misunderstandings about the Sabbath. It was not a day to instill fear, but to restore relationship. The next paragraph after the one above talks about another Sabbath when Jesus healed, which those who opposed Him classified as "work," thus violating the Sabbath. Again, Jesus came to restore broken people. His next step is choosing the Twelve, with whom He would live life in close relationship for the next few years. The rest of the chapter is Luke's account of the Sermon on the Plain, beginning with the Beatitudes. He again hits on restoring relationships: not living selfishly, loving your enemies, not judging others, and building a life based on faith, not trying to look good.  The Sabbath is simply renewing life for every day.