Good morning. Jesus and His disciples are walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. The Pharisees say that they are doing something that is not lawful on the Sabbath. The picking and eating the heads of grain was permissible according to the law - they were not stealing. The Pharisees were saying that what they were doing was work on the Sabbath, and therefore not lawful. The Pharisees had a whole list of things you could not do on the Sabbath. They were so afraid of someone breaking the commandment that they went overboard. It's kind of like what Adam did with Eve. God said to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; but Adam added to that to not even touch it. In fact when you read the account of Eve seeing the tree with the serpent, it seems like she has never even seen it before. Adam was probably so afraid she would eat and die that he did not even let her see it. Sadly the same thing happens today. We so want our children to stay safe that we make it seem like something horrific will happen if they do a particular thing; in fact something bad could happen if they think about doing it, or even look at this thing. (of course you have never done anything like that). Some people in churches also come up with a list of things to not do. They are against anything that even remotely could cause someone to stumble. Even though they are right most of the time, the Christian life is not a set of rules and regulations, which we talked about before. Jesus tells the Pharisees about David doing something not lawful and also about the priests breaking the Sabbath and being innocent. Something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what this means, “I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Father thank You that the reader has Your compassion for those around him/her. Help his/her family to look to You for their healing. Help the healing to come quickly.

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