Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

12:1–8pp—Mk 2:23–28; Lk 6:1–5
12:9–14pp—Mk 3:1–6; Lk 6:6–11

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grainx and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”y

3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?z 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.a 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbathb and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.c 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’a d you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Mane is Lord of the Sabbath.”

9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus,f they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”g

11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?h 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!i Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”