Daily Bible Reading 27th May 2026 // Luke 6:1-5
1 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some ears of corn, 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.”
Consider first of all Jesus' reply to his critics. He reminds them of the story of David, and what he did (1 Samuel 21:6) in old time. The comparison is not what David did on the Sabbath, but what he did when he was hungry - i.e., Jesus implies that it was hunger that made the disciples do what they did, walking through the cornfields. Nor is Jesus saying that the fact of their hunger entitled them to break the law on this occasion: what they did was, to be sure, a violation of the letter of tradition (i.e. of the Pharisaic interpretation of the law). David, for the same reason of hunger, did the same thing as the disciples; and if it was not wrong for David, in a big matter, with holy, consecrated bread involved, it could hardly be wrong for the disciples in a trifling matter like pulling ears of corn. Jesus' teaching here is that it cannot be wrong to meet real human need on the Sabbath, even if doing so seems to violate cherished traditions, for hunger is as real on the Sabbath as it is on any other day. The law of the Sabbath was not given to restrict or encumber the true needs of humanity, but only to restrict men's sinful propensities. The Sabbath was made for man as a help, inspiration and blessing, not a bondage.