Matthew 12:1
At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
On the Sabbath Jesus and His hungry disciples walked through a field of ripening standing wheat, and to satisfy hunger the disciples plucked heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate the kernels. The law of Moses gave a person passing through a neighbor's field the right to take grain by hand to satisfy hunger, though not to harvest it with a sickle. The Pharisees who were tracking Him treated this plucking and rubbing as reaping and threshing, and made it a charge of Sabbath-breaking against the disciples. Jesus rejected the charge and established them as guiltless, for their eating to satisfy hunger was lawful and in harmony with the Sabbath commandment they were observing. As the maker and Lord of the Sabbath He kept it according to God's law rather than the rabbis' arbitrary requirements, obeying it perfectly in human nature and proving that it can be kept.
Scene in the Grainfield
The grain called corn was wheat, standing and ripening in the field through which the company passed. It was the Sabbath day, and the walk came after return from worship, with Christ leading His disciples outdoors, for His Sabbath teaching was not always given inside enclosed walls. He had worked late through a long period of teaching and healing without food, and those with Him were hungry.
Being hungry, the disciples began to pluck heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat the kernels to satisfy hunger and keep strength for service. What they did was allowed by the law of Moses, which on other days permitted a person passing through a neighbor's field to take grain by hand to satisfy hunger, but forbade harvesting it with a sickle. That ancient allowance gave a hungry person and the poor a right to a share of the land's produce.
The Pharisees were continually on Christ's track, with the enemy working through them to counteract His healing the sick and preaching the gospel to the poor. The rabbis treated plucking and rubbing grain on the Sabbath as both reaping and threshing, and therefore as a double offense. They made the disciples' action the basis for a charge of Sabbath-breaking by scribes and Pharisees.
Sabbath Keeping Vindicated
Jesus and His disciples were keeping and observing the Sabbath as they traveled through the grainfields, with the hungry disciples plucking and eating grain along the way. Their plucking and eating to satisfy hunger did not break the Sabbath commandment but was lawful and in harmony with it. After a long period of teaching and healing without food, they passed through the fields, plucked ears of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate the kernels to meet hunger and maintain strength for service. The law of Moses permitted this, allowing a person passing through a neighbor's field to take grain by hand but not to harvest it with a sickle, so the act was lawful and not a violation of the Sabbath. Christ rejected the charge brought by the scribes and Pharisees and declared and established the disciples guiltless and innocent.
He kept the Sabbath according to God's law rather than the rabbis' arbitrary requirements. His conduct rejected teachings that had distorted the Sabbath and misrepresented God, while affirming the Sabbath's binding claims and the reverence due to the institution God had given. Jesus is the maker and Lord of the Sabbath, yet the Jewish rulers, scribes, and Pharisees accused Him and His disciples of breaking it. They brought a blind and mistaken charge and controversy against the Lord, despite clear evidence that He was sent by God. His actions on the Sabbath were in harmony with God's law, and He obeyed the law perfectly in human nature, proving that it can be kept.