Now
on the second Sabbath after the first, he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”
Luke 6:1-2
Luke 5 [34.] He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.” He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved. No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
Luke 6 [1.] Now on the second Sabbath after the first, he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”
Luke 6 [3.] Jesus, answering them, said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him; how he entered into God’s house, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?” He said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Meaning:
Luke has just told how Jesus answered a question about fasting with the picture of new wine that will not fit into old wine skins. Now the new and the old meet head on. A quiet walk through the fields on the Sabbath becomes the first of two Sabbath disputes in this chapter, and the start of a growing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.
- “He was going through the grain fields”
The scene is ordinary. Paths in Galilee ran along the edges of fields and between them, and travellers walked beside the ripening wheat and barley. Luke notes that it was a Sabbath, the seventh day, when Israel was to rest. The phrase “the second Sabbath after the first” is unusual and was probably a way of counting the Sabbaths in the harvest season between Passover and Pentecost. What matters is that the grain was ripe and the disciples were hungry.
- “His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate”
Luke alone adds the detail that the disciples were “rubbing them in their hands”. They were rolling the heads of grain between their palms to loosen the husks so they could eat the kernels. This was not theft. The Law of Moses allowed it plainly: “When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain” (Deuteronomy 23:25). God had built kindness for the hungry traveller into Israel’s farming laws.
So the issue was not what the disciples did, but when they did it. Mark tells the same event (Mark 2:23-24), and Matthew adds that the disciples “were hungry” (Matthew 12:1-6).
- “Why do you do that which is not lawful”
God’s command was clear: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God” (Exodus 20:8-10). The Law did not define every kind of work, so the teachers of Israel built a long list of forbidden activities to protect the day. Reaping, threshing and winnowing were on that list. In the eyes of some Pharisees, plucking the heads was reaping and rubbing them in the hands was threshing.
Notice that the Pharisees speak to the disciples, “Why do you do…?” In Mark and Matthew they put the question to Jesus. Both are true to the situation: a teacher was held responsible for the conduct of his followers, and the challenge to the disciples was really a challenge to their Master.
- A question that reveals the heart
The Pharisees were not wrong to care about the Sabbath. Isaiah had called God’s people to “call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable” (Isaiah 58:13). But they had lost sight of why God gave the day. Their concern was not that men were hungry but that a rule had been broken. Jesus will answer from Scripture with the story of David eating the show bread (Luke 6:3-5), and Mark records his summary of the whole matter: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
The Significance of Luke 6:1-2
- God’s commands are for our good
The Sabbath was a gift of rest. When rules are added to God’s commands and then enforced without mercy, a blessing is turned into a burden. Jesus does not set the Sabbath aside; he restores its purpose.
- Watch the spirit of our questions
It is easy to notice what others do wrong, especially on matters of religious practice. The Pharisees asked a question that sounded faithful but came from a critical heart. Followers of Jesus are called to examine their own motives before they judge others.
- The new wine needs new skins
Jesus had just warned that new wine cannot be poured into old skins. His coming brought a freedom that the old system of human rules could not contain. This dispute shows that freedom in action.
Cross-References:
Deuteronomy 23:25: "When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand" The Law allowed what the disciples did.
Exodus 20:8: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." The command behind the dispute.
Mark 2:23-24: "Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?" Mark’s account of the same event.
Luke 6:5: "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." Jesus’ answer to the charge.
Conclusion: On a Sabbath walk through the grain fields, Jesus’ hungry disciples plucked heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands and ate, as the Law allowed. Some Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath because their traditions counted this as harvesting. The challenge sets the stage for Jesus’ answer that the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath, and it reminds us that God gave his commands for the good of his people, not to burden them.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible