6:1 Sabbath. A principal source of controversy between Jesus and the Pharisees was the right use of the Sabbath. They hedged it with repressive regulations so as to avoid the possibility of breaking the Sabbath. Jesus did not so much argue that the regulations should be relaxed as that they had misunderstood the Sabbath—it was a day on which good deeds should be done.

plucked and ate some heads of grain. This was permitted in the law (Deut. 23:25); that it was done on the Sabbath was seen by the Pharisees as unlawful.