Comparison of the Gospels

When you think of Sabbath, you think of a holy day, a day of rest and relaxation for both man and animals. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word meaning “day of rest”. The Sabbath day is God’s day of relaxation after he finished the creation of the earth. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each tell about the Sabbath dispute, but each gospel tells their story differently.

Matthew chapter 12 begins with Jesus walking through the cornfields with his disciples when they became hungry. Because of their hunger, they plucked ears of corn and began to eat. The Pharisees disagreed with them doing this, not because they were eating someone else’s corn but for doing it on the Sabbath. They complained to their master about them doing what was against the law on the Sabbath (v 5). Jesus came to his disciples’ defense by referring to two incidents. The first incident is of David, where he and his followers ate bread that was for priest only. (v 3-4). The other incident is of the priest where they break the Sabbath by working proving that they could break one law to keep another, so Jesus could violate the Sabbath law in the interests of the Kingdom of God (v 5). He then argues that if the temple service would justify what the priests did, then the disciples doing what they did would be justified much more because they were in presence with him (v 6). Jesus goes on to say that God will have sympathy and not sacrifice meaning he will not criticize those who are not at fault. Finally, he states that “the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” meaning that he instituted the Sabbath because he is the Son of Man.

Mark, on the other hand, is parallel to Matthew. The first difference is that Matthew says they plucked ears of corn when Mark states that they plucked heads of grain (v 23). The Pharisees for a second time want to know why they are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath. Jesus defends his disciples again and gives the same example of David that Matthew did but there is a slight difference. Mark tells who the high priest is whereas Matthew says does not reveal who he is. Mark additionally states whom the Sabbath is for. By this, he said that the Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind made for Sabbath (v 27).