The Disciples’ Calling

When the disciples pick ears of grain and eat them, the Pharisees protest that they have broken the Sabbath. Jesus heals a man with a withered hand and asks whether it is right on the Sabbath to do good and to save life, but they have no answer.

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. When Jesus declared himself Lord of the Sabbath, he meant that he would give not a rest kept only in outward form but true rest. It was hardness of heart, hearing the truth and still refusing to change their minds, that kept the Pharisees and scribes from going any further along that way.

Jesus called the disciples to be with him, to send them out to preach, and to give them authority to cast out demons. Judas Iscariot did not repent and lost his place; Peter, after denying him three times, wept bitterly and turned back. Sin is not forgotten, but repenting of it or refusing to bears entirely different fruit.