John, Pt. 22 | John 5:1-18

Luke 10 and the Summary of the Law

Again, it's good to stand before you on this Lord's Day with the Word of God open. So we are in our 22nd sermon in this series. If you open your copy of the Scriptures to John 5, we'll be in verses 1 -18.

But before I read John 5, verses 1 -18, we're going to read Luke 10, 25 -28. So you want to have your finger in both right now. And in your pew Bible, the Gospel of John 5, it's in 1076, page 1076.

Let me pray.

Father, Lord, I thank you. I thank you for the people, these Christians, that you have given to this church to worship.

You.

Lord, they are family. And Lord, I pray that you have worked your Word in me this week and that I'm not preaching anything out of selfishness, out of vain deceit, Lord, but I am only presenting what the text has in front of us.

And Lord, if I'm not, please, in Jesus' name, convict me. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen. So our theme for this Lord's Day is, you'll love this one, Jesus the troublemaker. Jesus the troublemaker.

My proposition is this, Jesus came to fulfill the law, and the fulfillment of the law was found in loving God and loving neighbor. Loving God and loving neighbor is the summary of the whole law, right?

We see that in Leviticus, loving God was done in heart, soul, strength, and mind. Not just one of them, all of them. And loving neighbor was done with the same love that you have for yourself. In Luke chapter 10, this is the conversation about the good Samaritan, and our brother Tony taught through this in Sunday school.

I want to read verses 25 through 28. Verses 25 through 28. It says, and behold, a scholar of the law stood up and was putting him to the test. So the him here is Jesus, saying, teacher, what shall we do to inherit eternal life?

And he said to him, what is written in the law? And listen, how do you read it? So Jesus is asking, what is written, what is said, and how do you understand it? And he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And he said to him, you have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. Now, I'm of the understanding that this scholar is not speaking about eternal life as you and I understand eternal life. As well as the understanding of Jesus when he says, do this and you will live.

That I don't believe this eternal life Jesus is speaking about is the same understanding of eternal life that you and I have. I believe eternal life here would just be a life lived in Cana without dying.

So this is pointing us back to the Adamic covenant, the covenant that God made with Adam. If Adam would have kept the covenant, Adam would have lived, right? Life without dying. And that was according to God's commandment.

And I believe this was a shadow, a shadow, and that eternal life in Christ in heaven with the Father is the substance. So the thing about what appears in old covenant, they're all shadows. And that's what we're going to be talking about at the conference.

So I won't dive too deep into that right now. So life in Cana without dying is pointing us. I would also say life and eating without dying, like all that is pointing to the substance, which is life in Christ with the Father in heaven, right?

That's the substance. The subject that we are looking at today is not how do we inherit eternal life, but it is about Jesus who kept the law. The scholar could not keep the law. Jesus alone kept the law.

Are we tracking? You're tracking with me? You see, when it comes down to it, only Jesus, Jesus alone, only Jesus loved God with all of his heart, with all of his soul, with all of his strength and with all of his mind and his neighbor as himself.

And that is because of the academic covenant. Adam broke the law and because he broke the law, you and I are falling in Adam born with him as our federal head, unable to keep the law. We cannot keep the law and because we cannot keep the law run righteous and because we're unrighteous, we will die.

The soul that sins will die. The wages of sin is death.

Why do you die?

Because you sin, keep the law and live without dying. But because we're in Adam, we can say that infants die because they, when born, bear the sin of Adam. And as hard as it is to hear, deserve death.

I know, right?

And it's hard to say, but that's why men can't keep the law. We automatically, we come out the womb, cursed, needing redemption. Out, soon as we come out, we need redemption. And that redemption is in he who kept the law.

Jesus Heals a Lame Man on the Sabbath

Our outline, in our outline today, we're going to see that Jesus fulfilled the law and listen, hear me now, we're about to go deep, did not break it. Whatever it is that I'm going to say here momentarily, remember, I just said he did not break it.

Because here in a minute, you're probably going to think different. Remember, he did not break it. We're going to see Jesus heal a lame man and the Jews accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. So point number one, Jesus healed a lame man.

Point number two, the Jews accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. And as we transition, we'll look at Romans chapter 13. We're going to read verses 8 through 10. Romans chapter 13, verses 8 through 10.

Paul writes to the church of Rome, which is a group of Jews and Gentiles, owe nothing to anyone except love one another, right? Speaking to a group of people who did not love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

For this, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word. You shall love, that's the word, your neighbor as yourself.

Love does not work evil against a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. So what is the fulfillment of the law? Love. Come on, we need more talking Baptist, right?

Come on.

We need some once Pentecostal turned Baptist up in here, right? I need an amen section. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, we're going to look at verse 14. Galatians chapter 5, verse 14.

Paul speaking to a Gentile church who has been ransacked by Judaizers. He says in verse 14, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. In this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So Paul showing you that in two books, Paul points to this one word being love, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

So I want to ask a question. Has anyone in here fulfilled that law?

Right, right?

No, none of us.

But we're commanded to do that. That is not gospel. Ladies and gentlemen, what is gospel? Is that Jesus has?

We have not.

That's the command. The good news is Jesus has. And our righteousness is based on what he has done. Not on what we are able to do. Let's look at our first point.

Point number one.

Jesus healed a lame man. We see this in John chapter 5, verses 1 through 9. In verse 1, we are told about a feast in Jerusalem, but it does not tell us which feast, right? There were three major feasts in Jerusalem, and all Jewish males were obligated to come to Jerusalem during these feasts.

The three feasts are Passover slash the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Boots. So our text doesn't tell us which feast it is. So we don't know how much time has passed.

So if it is the Passover feast, then it's been a year in Jesus's ministry. The text doesn't tell us, so I'm not going to speculate. So let's read verses 1 through 9. It says, after these things, speaking of him healing the royal official's son, remember he had traveled, he was traveling from Judea to Galilee, he made it to Galilee, now he's having to travel back.

After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, on the map, it's not up, it's down, but because Jerusalem was set on a hill, everywhere around it, whichever way you traveled, you were going up.

So the text tells us that they went up to Jerusalem. Now there was in Jerusalem, by a sheep gate, a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethsaida, having five porticos. In these, speaking of the porticos, laid a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the movement of the waters, for an angel of the Lord went down at a certain season into the pool to stir up the water.

Whoever then first, after the stirring of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever sickness with which he was afflicted. Verse five, and a man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.

Imagine that. And when Jesus saw him laying there, he knew that he had already been sick a long time. He said to him, Do you wish to get well? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.

But while I am coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mats and walk. And immediately the man became well and picked up his mat and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.

Now, if you're reading from an ESV or an NIV, you probably notice that part of verse three and all of verse four is not in the text. It's not it's not there. In your Bible, if it has footnotes, those footnotes will tell you that the earlier manuscripts omit the rest of verse three and all of verse four, meaning that the earlier manuscripts that we can find are not found having this information in them.

Some theologians believe that they were added by scribes, right? So as some some have the idea that that the angel of the Lord, when it would come down to stir the water and that people would enter in and be healed, that this was only a myth.

This was a myth that was brought around because the waters would stir. And we'll get to that in a minute. So to figure out why the water was stir that they created this myth. So as these scribes who believe this myth were copying this gospel, they added the myth that was going around.

Now, I guess the spotlight's on me, right? What do I believe? Now, I personally believe that this account is in Scripture, and I'll explain why. I hold to it because I'm what's called I hold to what's called a majority text view.

We're going to dive in deeper into that as we get into the gospel. John and have to deal with textual criticism. So the main two views that's argued for is critical text, which would be the earliest.

Manuscripts.

And then we have what's called the received text. And this will be what like the King James Version and and other versions from that family are translated from. So the King James Version has everything.

All all the, you know, even stuff that's not even in any manuscript, right? They have everything and more and written in them. And then the critical text, such as ESV and so on. They haven't taken out everything that wasn't in the earliest manuscripts, but they have taken out some.

And this this portion that we're at is one of them. So I was called the majority text view, and it's where you take all the copies that we have of the Bible, the New Testament, and you put them together and say if and after you put them together, what what do we have more of?

Right.

Do we have more of it being in there or not being in there? And so the majority text says if there's more of it, more text that it's in there, then we believe it should be in there.

Right.

If it's not more than what we have of it not being in there, then it doesn't belong in.

There.

So that's the argument for the majority text view, and that's the view that I hold. I believe that it should be in there because there's more copies with it in there. But I also believe it because of the text itself.

So if that was my only reason for believing it, I probably wouldn't hold to it as strong as I do. So if you read, I brought an ESV to read from, but I don't think it's really there. All I have to do is actually skip it.

I want to read verses three through seven, but only as we see it in. I want to take the brackets off of it, so I'm not going to read what's bracketed. And these days, a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and wither.

Then that's it. Then you go to verse five. A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. And when Jesus saw him laying there and knew that he had already been sick for a long time, he said to him, do you wish to get well?

And the sick man answered, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. But while I am coming, I know the one steps down before me. So this verse right here, verse seven, makes no sense if you remove the later part of verse three and all of verse four, which explains why the man needed to be put into the pool.

Without that part of the scripture, there's no explanation of why the man needed to be put into the pool. And verse seven tells us anything. It tells us that there were sick people waiting around a pool for the waters to stir up and that there was no southern hospitality around this pool.

Right?

That's what it tells us. People were waiting around a pool to jump in when it stirred and no one was saying, oh, you go first. You've been here longer. No one was holding the door for the man. Don't you northerners like the south, right?

There was no southern hospitality. This lame man did not have friends such as the paralytic man who led him down through the roof where Jesus was teaching in order for him to get healed. He didn't have any friends to do that for him.

He was there by himself and he was unable to get into the pool. Now, some believe that there was some kind of underground water system that was built by Solomon during the first temple era and that when some kind of a ruckus would happen, like a storm or something, and that these water flows would meet because of the storms.

Once the water current would hit each other, then it was directly under the pool and it would cause the pool to stir. And that from there, they created this myth. And I personally don't see why we would deny that an angel of the Lord would come down and do this, that it would not be possible.

Why would we deny this? I mean, we believe that a serpent spoke to Eve, right? That God appeared in a burning bush and the bush did not consume. That Jonah was swallowed by a big fish and lived. That Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was put into a fiery furnace and the only thing burnt on them was their bondage, the things that tied them up.

Not a hair on their knuckle was singed, right? We believe that God shut the mouth of the lions. I mean, do you know where you keep going? I mean, there's so many miraculous stories throughout Scripture that we say we believe.

And out of the ones that I just named, an angel coming down to stir the water doesn't seem far-fetched, right? Doesn't seem far-fetched. There has to be an antecedent. There has to be an antecedent.

And if you remove this portion that's bracketed, if you remove that from the Bible, you remove the antecedent. You remove the explanation of why the man needed to be put into the pool. So therefore, I believe it should be in there.

We have Jesus going down into Jerusalem where he came from Canaan of Galilee. He went out because of the feast. Remember that those three feasts, all male Jews had to be there. And if you remember in chapter four, chapter four, when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John, Jesus left Judah because he didn't, I don't want to say he didn't want the smoke, but it wasn't time for the smoke,.

Right?

The commotion wasn't upon him at the time. It wasn't time for him to reveal himself. At that point, he doesn't want to seem, he doesn't seem to want to cause the commotion. He doesn't want to be the cause of the smoke.

But here in chapter five, it is as if he turns to someone and says, here, hold my wine. I'm about to do something. I'm about to do something that's going to cause a ruckus. That's going to cause a commotion.

That's going to stir up more than just water. He heals a man on the Sabbath and tells him to pick up his mat and walk. We see this in verses six through nine. Let's read that again. And when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, he said to him, do you wish to get well?

The sick man answered, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is.

Stirred.

But while I am coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat and walk. And immediately the man became well and picked up his mat and began to walk. Now, although so far in this in this gospel, there's been three signs.

Now, of course, I believe Jesus has done more signs in his time here, but we can only do what the gospel John, the writer, is telling us. So far in this gospel, he has reported to us three signs, the turning water into wine, the healing of the royal official's son, and now him healing a lame man.

And I believe that this story is not about him healing a lame man, but I believe this is about the unveiling. So if you finish reading the chapter, it's about the unveiling of the son of man. I believe what we're looking at is is seeing one at one of Jesus revealing himself.

First, he was just to, you know, certain people here, certain person here, his disciples. Now he's making it public. And he does so by healing a man by bringing healing to his neighbor who had been lying by this pool for 38 years.

And as we transition in this man's obedience, his obedience, meaning that he listened to Jesus, he stood up, picked up his mat and walked. In this man's obedience to the word of Jesus, the Jews become angry.

And this is where we enter into our second point. The Jews accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. We see this in verses 10 through 18. We'll begin reading verses 10 through 13.

So the Jews.

So again, remember, it was on the Sabbath day when he healed him. So the Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath. And it is not lawful for you to carry your mat. But he answered them.

He who made me well was the one who said to me, pick up your mat and walk. And they asked him, who is the man who said to you, pick up your mat and walk? But the man who was healed did not know who it was for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

And it can be kind of like, like if I want to bring to an understanding, you ever seen someone demonstrate in martial arts or someone, they'll say, hey, grab my arm. And you might grab it and say, no, with your other hand.

But the idea is that they grab their arm. Well, in martial arts, it's a big thing. If someone does grab your arm and you maneuver out of it, that if you're in a real fight and when you maneuver out of it for a split second, that man who grabbed the arm that got maneuvered on, right, his focus isn't on the one who broke loose, but his focus is on his hand that is now empty of the arm.

It's like they take their eyes off their opponent and they look at their hand.

Right.

And that's what's going on here. The man was healed in excitement. He was so focused on his healing. He didn't have enough time before Jesus had turned to see who it was and to have this conversation.

Does that make sense? That's just me, my background, putting it together. Now, what I want, I want you to ask yourself, to ask yourself a question. Was this man breaking the Sabbath when he picked up his mat and walked?

Or was the Jews adding to the Sabbath? Was this man actually breaking the Sabbath or was the Jews adding to the Sabbath? If you will turn to Jeremiah chapter 17, I believe this answers our question. Jeremiah chapter 17.

We'll look at verses 19 through 22. Jeremiah chapter 17, verses 19 through 22. Yahweh speaking to Jeremiah. Thus Yahweh said to me, so let me hear Jeremiah, go and stand in the in the public gate through which the kings of Judah come in and out, as well as all the gates of Jerusalem and say to them, speaking to the kings, say to them, listen to the word of Yahweh.

Kings of Judah and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates. Thus says Yahweh, take care of yourselves, listen, and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring any thing in through the gates of Jerusalem.

You shall not bring a load out of your house on the Sabbath day or do any work, but keep the Sabbath holy as I commanded your fathers. Do not carry, that's what it says, any load on the Sabbath. Was that man's bed a load?

And we have to say, yes, it was. There's no way around it. Now, what I want to do right now is bring a little tension before you. Remember what I said earlier when I began this sermon? Jesus did not break the Sabbath.

What I'm about to say, I want it to make you uncomfortable. I want it to make you so uncomfortable, you get comfortable, right? You need to be in order to follow along with me. Listen, as I was preparing this, I was very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable.

I had to call and get guidance. I was calling, we had a group meeting, right? Like something's going on here. In order to follow along with me, you're going to have to be comfortable in being uncomfortable because we have some tension here.

Jesus did not break the law, but he had a man carry the bed, and that's breaking the Sabbath. According to Jeremiah chapter 17, this man picked up his mat. I mean, Jeremiah 17, this man, when he picked up his mat, is breaking the Sabbath.

And that means Jesus is having him to break the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day is the sign of the Mosaic covenant. Turn with me to Exodus. Remember, it says that he commanded their fathers. This is part of that commandment.

Exodus chapter 31, we'll read verses 12 through 18. Chapter 1, 12 through 18. Yahweh spoke to me saying, but as for you, speaking to Moses, speak to the sons of Israel saying, you shall surely keep my Sabbaths.

For this is a sign. That's the sign of the covenant. This is a sign between me and you throughout your generation. If you turn to Genesis chapter 17, we see the same thing. God's speaking to Abraham about circumcision.

The Abrahamic sign was circumcision. Mosaic sign, Sabbath keeping. Throughout your generation, that you may know that I am Yahweh who makes you holy. Therefore, verse 14, therefore, you shall keep my Sabbath.

For it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work shall be done. But on the seventh day, there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to Yahweh.

Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel, listen, the sons of Israel shall keep my Sabbath to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generation as an everlasting covenant.

And I would remind you back to Genesis 17, that that was an everlasting covenant. Circumcision. It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever. For six days, Yahweh made the heavens and the earth.

But on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed. When he finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written by the finger of God.

And before we go any further, I believe that finger was Jesus's finger.

All right.

Just so you know, there's some tension here. Sabbath day keeping was the fourth commandment written on those tablets of stone. It's a part of the first portion of the Decalogue. That means no matter what you believe, Sabbath keeping is a moral law.

You say, how is it moral? It's moral because God is making sure that a man is not forced to work all the time. It's moral because if you have a servant or if you have someone that works for you, you are to give him a day off.

That's the moral aspect of it. And as for you, you need to not work all the time. That's the moral aspect on it. The Sabbath's fourth commandment is a moral law. And according to the law of God, the just penalty for breaking the Sabbath day is death.

The just penalty for breaking the Sabbath day is death. Verse 14 tells us, for whoever, everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. Verse 15, whoever does not, does any work on the Sabbath.

I mean, hold on. Verse 15, whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. That's the just penalty. And now I want to finish reading from our portion in the scriptures. John chapter 5, we'll finish reading from 14 through 18.

Verse 14, afterwards Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, behold, you have become well. Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you. And the man went away and disclosed to the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well.

And for this reasons, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the.

Sabbath.

But he answered them, my father is working until now. And I myself am working. Verse 18, for this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, to kill Jesus, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God, his own father, making himself equal with God.

If you don't feel tension, you're not listening. You're not listening. If you don't feel an apparent contradiction, you're not listening. And what I want to do is I want to work backwards from verse 18 in a way.

So verse 18 begins with for this reason, therefore, which takes us to verse 17. But in order to understand verse 17, we got it. But verse 17 starts and in order to understand verse 17, you got to look at 15 and 16.

But 16 says this and for this reason. So 16 and 18 say for this reason. So if you look at verse 15 at the very end, it says that it was Jesus who made him well for this reason. The reason that Jesus made him well, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

So the reason why the Jews were persecuting Jesus is because he made a lame man well,.

Right?

I mean, and then it says, verse 16, they were doing because they persecuted him because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answers and says to them, my father, who is working until now.

And I myself am working, Jesus states here that his father, who is in heaven, who is outside of time, is at the same time while Jesus is in time working. That makes sense. His father, who is outside of time, who is in heaven, outside of time and space, is at the very same time that Jesus is in time working.

And Jesus is only doing what he sees the father doing. This work in one way, which it is because he's actually working in two ways. In reference to his omnipresence, right? Him being on earth, Jesus being on earth as the Christ, as man, still holding all things together by the word of his power, right?

Jesus in his omnipresence, his deity is still working, holding all things according to his power on every Sabbath that was to be kept. His deity is still doing these things. The deity of Jesus Christ never, ever stops working.

If he was to not, for one second, hold all things together according to his word and power, things would end, right? Everything would end. His deity always has to be working. But our text, however, it seems to be speaking about his healing on the Sabbath.

And listen, I'm telling you right now, Jesus nor the writer denies this. This is where the tension comes in. And it says, and because he says my father, because Jesus says my father and not our father,.

Right?

When Jesus taught us how to pray, what did he say to pray? Did he say to pray my father or our father? Our father. Because the Jews, if you were to say my father, they accuse you of making yourself equal with.

God.

It's the difference between saying our father versus my father. Jesus did not say our father, speaking with the Jews. He didn't say our father is working until now, putting, lumping them together with him or him with them as Jews.

He said my father. My father. And because he said my father, he was making himself equal with God. Look again at verse 18. Again, the speaking notice Sabbath and father for this reason, therefore, the Jews, for what reason him breaking him, healing someone on the Sabbath, that would be to them breaking the Sabbath and him making God his own father, making himself calling God his father, making himself equal to God.

Therefore, for for this reason, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. What's the just punishment of those two things? Death, blaspheme, death, breaking the Sabbath, death. Because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

Now, if you say that verse 18 is telling us that Jesus wasn't really breaking the Sabbath, according to the Mosaic law, then you have to say that Jesus wasn't really making himself equal with God when he said my father.

You can't say one is true and not say the other one is true. The writer John doesn't make that difference. He doesn't point out that there's a difference between the two. He lumps it together. He does not say the Jews were thinking he broke the Sabbath and were but he really is God or was, you know, you would have to say, well, he was thinking they were thinking he broke the Sabbath because of their manmade traditions and they were thinking that he was making himself equal with God because of their manmade traditions.

No, I mean, the Pharisees and the Jews didn't write this. John wrote this for this reason. The Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he was not only I mean, because he not only was was was breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own father, making himself equal with God like there's there's no way to get around it.

I mean, it seems that he's breaking the Sabbath, right? And he's blaspheming, according to the Mosaic law, according to according to these Jews, like imagine if you were there at that time and your heart wasn't changed.

So they were seeking to kill Jesus for breaking the Sabbath and for blaspheming. Now, we have to understand that Jesus in his omnipresence never stops working while Jesus as Christ in his human nature lived and kept the law of Moses.

But we also have to understand that Jesus in his omniscience, him knowing all things,.

Right?

He knew that making this man well, making this man healed and telling him to pick up his mat and carry it on the Sabbath would draw attention.

Right?

Before he did it, he knew it. He knew it was going to happen. He knew it. This act done by Jesus, this is act one, right? This is act one. Remember, scene one, act one of Jesus revealing who he is, him revealing to them, him revealing himself to the Jews that he has authority over the Sabbath.

And real quick, turn to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12, beginning in verse one. At this time, I mean, at that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and his disciples became very hungry and began to pick.

So by them picking grains, you remember, you could not go into a field and pick anything. They could not grab manna off the ground on the Sabbath, right? Pick heads of grain and eat. When the Pharisees saw it, so the Jews, according to that law, they're breaking the law, they're breaking the Sabbath.

They said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. But he said to them, have you not read what David did when he became hungry and his companions and he entered in the house of God and they were eating the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but for the priest only.

Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath, the priest and the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent. But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what it means that I desire, quoting from Hosea chapter six, verse six, I desire compassion, not a sacrifice.