Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Luke · About this commentary
Lord of the Sabbath
Luke 6:1-11
1 Now on the second Sabbath after the first, he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate, rubbing them in their hands. · WEB
Two Sabbath scenes, and a question they will not answer: is the day for doing good or not?
His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate, rubbing them in their hands Luke 6:1.
Both episodes are told in the earliest account Mark 2:18–28 Mark 3:1–19. Two details of this telling are worth holding.
The first is the nature of the charge. The law permitted anyone to pick by hand from a neighbor's standing grain Deuteronomy 23:25, so nothing here is theft. What is alleged is that plucking and rubbing counted as reaping and threshing, and therefore as work — a ruling of the traditions rather than a line in the law itself.
The answer given goes to a precedent. "Haven't you read what David did when he was hungry?" Luke 6:3 — the fugitive king eating the show bread that only priests were permitted 1 Samuel 21:1–6. The argument is not that rules do not matter. It is that Scripture itself records a case where a genuine human need overrode a genuine regulation, and no one had ever condemned David for it.
"The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath" Luke 6:5. The claim is larger than the dispute. The day belongs to him, and a man who owns a thing is competent to say what it is for.
The second scene sharpens it. There was a man there, and his right hand was withered Luke 6:6 — right is this account's addition, and for a laborer it is the difference between working and begging.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation Luke 6:7. They are not waiting to see whether he can. They assume he can, and they are there to see what he does with it — which concedes far more than they intend.
"Rise up and stand in the middle" Luke 6:8. He puts the man where everyone must look at him. Whatever is decided will be decided in front of the person it concerns.
"Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?" Luke 6:9.
The question is unanswerable in the terms it is asked, and it is not a debating trick. If it is unlawful to do good on the Sabbath, then the day requires a man to leave a hand withered when he could mend it, which no one would say aloud. And the second pair exposes the room: while he considers saving, they are considering an accusation that could end in a death sentence. The only people in that synagogue planning harm on the Sabbath are the ones enforcing it.
He looked around at them all, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand" Luke 6:10. Nothing is done that could be called work. A word is spoken and a man moves his own arm.
But they were filled with rage, and talked with one another about what they might do to Jesus Luke 6:11. The account records the reaction without comment. A hand is restored, and the men who watched it begin planning.
settled What this mark means