LORD OF THE SABBATH IN A GRAIN FIELD

LUKE 6:1–11

Judaism in the first century was pluralistic. Three sects described in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus include Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees.6 Essenes isolated themselves from the corruption of the world and fervently looked for the end of the age. The corrupt priesthood consisted of the Sadducees, who controlled the Temple in Jerusalem. Pharisees, including rabbis, scribes, and teachers of the law, ruled through the synagogues and were the most popular group among the common people.

In the first century, the world of the Pharisees was diverse and complex. The Jewish oral law, called the Mishnah, provides a great deal of information about the differences between two groups (“schools,” or “houses”) of Pharisees—the school of Shammai and the school of Hillel.7 The teaching of Jesus in Galilee took place in the midst of escalating critical scrutiny from individuals in both schools of Pharisees, who vehemently disagreed with his pronouncements on various points of Scripture.8

No rabbinic teaching in the Mishnah gets more detailed attention than observance of the Sabbath.9 The Lord made it clear in the law that work was to be done on only six days of the week (Exod. 20:8–11). So important was the Sabbath that the Pharisees had made it their business to define in great detail what actions and activities constituted work and so were forbidden on this special day.10

There were thirty-nine classes of work that were not to be performed on the Sabbath; they included sowing, plowing, and reaping.11 So it is not surprising that some Pharisees reprimanded Jesus when they saw his disciples picking, rubbing, and eating grain from the fields on the Sabbath (Luke 6:1–2). Pharisees believed work on the Sabbath was wrong and therefore subject to punishment. For some, profaning the Sabbath by working was subject to a sin offering;12 for others it was a capital offense that merited death by stoning.13

The Essenes believed they were the select “children of light” who would defeat the “children of darkness,” as described in this Essene document known as the War Scroll.
© Dr. James C. Martin. Collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority, exhibited at the Shrine of the Book, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photographed by permission.

Woman harvesting grain in a wheat field.
© Direct Design.

Jesus initially responded to the rebuke of the Pharisees by recalling an instance when the Sabbath was profaned by necessity: David ate the consecrated bread set aside for only the priest (1 Sam. 21:1–6). Then Jesus trumped even that precedent by revealing himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5). If anyone had a right to define what was and was not unlawful on that day, it was the one who had established it.

In the midst of this significant discussion, we almost forget that we are standing with all involved in a grain field. What does this setting add to the events transpiring before us? First of all, it suggests that the Pharisees have taken their surveillance of Jesus up a notch. We have become accustomed to seeing them scrutinizing Jesus in the synagogues or in the homes that regularly witnessed his ministry. But now they appear to be tracking his movements even on the Sabbath when he and the disciples happened to be walking through a grain field. Yet Jesus did not soften his language. In fact, if anything, the intensity of his pronouncement increased. There was no day of the week and there was no location in the land where he would not own his messianic identity and authority. That is why Jesus declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath in a grain field.

Pharisees were in control of the synagogues such as this one at Gamla, which was in use during the time of the Gospels.

The Katros inscription. This inscribed stone was discovered in the Jerusalem estate of the Sadducean family of Katros.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The Wohl Archaeological Museum and Burnt House, Jerusalem.