23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" 25 He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." 27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." NIV

I just get the impression that the Pharisees were just following You around waiting to catch You out with some interpretation of the Law. They must have heard Your teaching, seen Your miracles, been aware of lepers healed and the blind seeing and yet totally untouched by it all.

Rules and Regulations were all they were interested in and now something happened that made their eyes light up. Why is it that we are so eager to jump on anything that doesn't seem right and yet remain quiet when things go well? For the Pharisees, their twisted logic had made them think that work was taking place as the disciples picked the ears of grain and rubbed them in their hands to release the goodness. To the Pharisees, this was threshing on an industrial scale and as such it was against the Law on the Sabbath Day. I can imagine their blood pressure rising and their hands rubbing together in glee (which surely according to them would be work) at this opportunity to point out the error of Your ways in letting the disciples break the Law.

It was a test. Obviously they expected You to either agree with them and condemn the disciples or to agree with the disciples and condemn Yourself. It was clear cut; there were no exceptions as far as they were concerned. So I can imagine the shock on their faces when You took their minds back a thousand years to David - King David, who one day entered the house of God (the Tabernacle) and ate some of the consecrated bread, lawful only to the priests. Now David was a ‘Man after Gods own heart', a man that obviously God had anointed and chosen as king. Was David struck down dead? - No. Did God indicate to Abiathar the priest that it was wrong? - No.

The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

Of course, that answers one question and opens up an even bigger one.