Matthew 12:1-12

One Saturday, on the day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of wheat. The disciples were hungry, so they plucked off some heads of grain and rubbed them in their hands to eat. But when some of the Pharisees saw what was happening, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples shouldn’t be harvesting grain on the Sabbath!” Jesus responded, “Haven’t you ever read what King David and his men did when they were hungry? They entered the house of God and ate the sacred bread of God’s presence, violating the law by eating bread that only the priests were allowed to eat. “And haven’t you read in the Torah that the priests violated the rules of the Sabbath by carrying out their duties in the temple on a Saturday, and yet they are without blame? But I say to you, there is one here who is even greater than the temple. If only you could learn the meaning of the words ‘I want compassion more than a sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t be condemning my innocent disciples. For the Son of Man exercises his lordship over the Sabbath.” Then Jesus left them and went into the synagogue where he encountered a man who had an atrophied, paralyzed hand. The fault-finding Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it permissible to perform a work of healing on the Sabbath?” They only asked him this question because they hoped to accuse him of breaking the Jewish laws. He answered them, “If any of you had a lamb that fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you reach out your hand and lift it out? Isn’t a man much more valuable than a lamb? So of course, it’s always proper to do miracles, even on the Sabbath.”