1 At tliat time Jesus went on the sabbatli day through the com ; and liis disciples were an hungered, and began to phick the ears of corn, and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy dis- ciples do that wliich is uot lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
3 But he said unto tliem, Have ye not read what David did, when lie was an hungered, and they that were with him*
4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which Avere with him, but only for the Priests ?
5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the Priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
6 But I say unto you. That in this place is one greater than the temple.
7 But if ye had known what this
meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemn- ed the guiltless.
8 For tlie Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue :
10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying', Is it lawful to Ileal on the sabbath days ? that they might accuse him.
11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that
i shall have one sheep, and if it fixll I into a pit on the sabbatli day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
12 How much then is a man better than a sheep ? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth ; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
The one great subject which, stands out prominently in this passage of Scripture, is the Sabbath day. It is a subject on which strange opinions prevailed among the Jews in our Lord's time. The Pharisees had added to the teaching of Scripture about it, and overlaid the true character of the day with the traditions of men. — It is a subject on which divers opinions have often been held in the Churcli|p of Christ, and wide differences exist among men at the present time. Let us see what we may learn about it from our Lord's teaching in these verses.
Let us, in the first place, settle it in our minds as an established principle, that our Lord Jesus Christ does not do away ivith the observance of a loeekly Sabbath day. He neither does so here, nor elsewhere in the four Gos- pels. We often find His opinion expressed about the Jewish errors on the subject of the Sabbath, But we
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