13. Eating Grain on the Sabbath (2:23-28)

The conflict stories of Mark 2 escalate to a new level of tension as Jesus corrects the mistaken understanding of the Pharisees. While the Sabbath had become an oppressive imposition in the Jewish world, Jesus sets forth the great truth that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. In that short pronouncement, the entire understanding of the Sabbath obligations changed, and established the principle that would eventually give rise to the notion of a Christian Sabbath, a day of renewal and service in the kingdom of Christ.