Gospel (Lk 6,1-5) - One Saturday, Jesus was passing through fields of wheat and his disciples were picking and eating the ears, rubbing them with their hands. Some Pharisees said: "Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? As he entered the house of God, he took the bread of the offering, ate it and gave it to his companions, although it is not lawful to eat them except only to the priests? And he said to them: "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus continues his journey towards Jerusalem and on a Sabbath day he crosses a wheat field. The disciples pluck some ears of corn, rub them between their hands to get the grain and eat it. However, rabbinical provisions did not allow the harvesting and eating of ears of wheat on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees, scrupulous observers of the law, but forgetful of the hearts and lives of the people, seeing what the disciples are doing, accuse them of not respecting the Sabbath rest. The rabbis, in fact, had listed 39 types of work prohibited on the Sabbath, and these also included reaping, threshing and ventilating wheat. Obviously the accusation is addressed to the master who does not guide his disciples according to the law. Jesus avoids entering directly into discussions on the cases, and responds to the accusation by recalling the episode of David who, while fleeing from Saul who wanted to kill him, took refuge in the temple. And here the priest allowed the fugitive to eat the bread called of proposition (because it was placed before God) intended only for priests during the week of worship. David's need to eat had pushed the high priest Achimelech to derogate from the legislative provision to allow him to survive. Jesus, with the answer he gives to the Pharisees, namely "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath", places himself on an even higher level than that of David. And, as reported elsewhere in the Gospel, he explains that the meaning of the legislation on the "day of rest" is to place oneself totally and fully at the service of the Lord. Jesus is also Lord of the Sabbath, not in the sense that he can escape what is prescribed by the law at will, but because the time of salvation consists in achieving the liberation of men. Christians must ask themselves whether, in a world in which everything seems to be subject to the law of the market and consumption, it is not an urgent task to re-propose in our societies the value of rest as a day of praise to God, of brotherhood and of helping the poor.