Mark 2:18 - Meaning and Application

Christ had already been called to defend himself for eating with tax collectors and sinners. Here he is called to defend his disciples. When they do what he wills, he will stand by them and speak for them.

He first defends them for not fasting, which the Pharisees used to shame them for. They asked, Why do the Pharisees and John’s disciples fast? The Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), and John’s disciples likely did too. It seems this very day, when Christ and his disciples were eating in Levi’s house, was one of their fast days. The word used means, “they are fasting,” which made their complaint even sharper. Strict religious people are often quick to make their own habits the rule for everyone else, and then they judge those who do not fully match them.

They were also hinting that, even if Christ went among sinners to do them good, as he had said, his disciples were simply giving in to appetite. They treated them as men who never knew fasting or self-denial. Ill will always expects the worst.

Christ answers their complaint in two ways. First, these were happy days for his disciples, and fasting was not fitting at that time, though it would be later (Mark 2:19, Mark 2:20). There is a proper time for everything. People who marry expect some care and trouble in this life, yet during the wedding celebration they are glad, and that is right. Samson’s bride should not have been weeping during the feast days, when joy belonged there (Judges 14:17).

Christ and his disciples were, as it were, newly married. The bridegroom was still with them, and the wedding feast was still going on, especially in Matthew’s case. When the bridegroom would be taken away from them into a far country, then it would be fitting for them to mourn and fast.

Second, these were early days for them, and they were not yet ready for such hard religious duties as they would be later. The Pharisees had long trained themselves in severe practices. John the Baptist had lived very simply, and his disciples had from the beginning become used to hardship. So fasting was easier for them. But Christ’s disciples were different. Their Master came eating and drinking, and he had not yet trained them in these harder services.

If they had been pushed into frequent fasting at the start, it might have discouraged them, and even driven them away from following Christ. It would have been like putting new wine into old wine skins, or sewing new cloth onto a worn-out garment (Mark 2:21, Mark 2:22). God kindly considers the weakness of young Christians, and we should do the same. We should not expect more than the duty of the day, with the strength that comes for that day, since we cannot decide our own strength. Many people grow to hate a good food when they are forced to overeat it as children. In the same way, many come to dislike devotion when they are burdened with too much of it at the start. Weak Christians must be careful not to overwork themselves and make Christ’s yoke anything other than easy and good.

He also defends them for plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath, something the Pharisees would never have dared to do, because it went against their elders’ traditions. As before, the Pharisees criticized Christ’s school, as if it were less strict than theirs. People who reject true godliness are often the most eager to defend outward forms and condemn others for not matching them.

Notice first how simple the disciples’ breakfast was on that Sabbath morning when they were on the way to worship (Mark 2:23). They plucked heads of grain, and that was their food. They were so taken up with spiritual food that they even forgot ordinary food. Christ’s word was their food, and their eagerness for it almost consumed them. The Jews treated fancy food on the Sabbath as a kind of religious duty, but the disciples were content with whatever they could get.

Notice next how the Pharisees even resented this. They assumed it was unlawful to pluck grain on the Sabbath, as if that were as much work as harvesting (Mark 2:24). “Why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” they asked. If Christ’s disciples do something wrong, Christ himself will be blamed for it, as he was here, and dishonor will fall on his name. It is also striking that when the Pharisees thought Christ had done wrong, they spoke to the disciples (Mark 2:16). But when they thought the disciples had done wrong, they spoke to Christ. They acted like troublemakers, doing what they could to stir up conflict between Christ and his disciples and break up the family.

Christ defends them, first by example. He points to David, who ate the bread of the Presence when he was hungry and there was no other bread to eat (Mark 2:25, Mark 2:26). “Have you never read?” he asks. Many of our mistakes would be corrected, and many unfair judgments of others would stop, if we simply remembered what Scripture says. Appeals to Scripture are the most convincing.

David, the man after God’s own heart, did not hesitate to eat this bread when he was hungry, even though the law allowed only priests and their families to eat it. Moral duties come before ceremonial rules, and in a case of need, something may be done that normally would not be allowed. The text says David did this in the days of Abiathar the high priest, or just before his days, since Abiathar followed his father Ahimelech in the priesthood and likely served as his deputy at that time. It was Abiathar who escaped the slaughter and brought the ephod to David.

Christ also answers by argument. To understand why the disciples could pluck grain, consider who the Sabbath was made for (Mark 2:27). It was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. This is not stated in Matthew. The Sabbath is holy and from God, but we should receive it as a gift and help, not as a burden and drudgery.

First, God never meant it to be a weight laid on us, so we should not turn it into one. Man was not made for the Sabbath, because he was created before the Sabbath was established. Man was made for God, for his honor and service, and he should rather die than deny him. But he was not made to be so bound by Sabbath rules that he cannot do what is needed to preserve life.

Second, God did mean it to be a benefit to us, and so we should use it that way and gain from it. He made it for man.

He also gave some care to our bodies in setting the Sabbath, so they could rest and not be worn out by the constant work of this world (Deuteronomy 5:14). The Sabbath was meant to give rest to servants too, so they would not be burdened without relief. Since God designed Sabbath rest for the good of our bodies, he never meant it to keep us from getting necessary help in a real need. It must be understood in a way that does not make it contradict itself, because God gave it for building up, not for harm.

Even more, God had our souls in view. The Sabbath was made as a day of rest only so it could be a day of holy work, a day for fellowship with God, praise, and thanksgiving. We are freed from ordinary business so we can give ourselves fully to that work, in public and in private. At the same time, we are allowed to do what is needed to prepare our bodies to serve our souls in God’s service and to help our bodies keep up with that service.

From this, we should learn three things. First, we serve a good Master, and all his commands are for our benefit. If we are wise enough to keep them, we are helping ourselves. It is not he, but we, who gain from serving him. Second, we should aim at the good of our own souls in Sabbath observance. If the Sabbath was made for man, then at night we should ask, “What good has this Sabbath done for me?” Third, we must be careful not to make religious duties a burden to ourselves or others when God meant them to be a blessing. We should not add to the command with harsh rules, and we should not give in to sinful habits that go against it. Otherwise, we turn what should be a joy into a kind of pain.

The Sabbath was also made by the Son of Man (Mark 2:28). That means the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, and he will not allow the wise purpose of that command to be ruined by human rules. The Sabbath days belong to the Son of Man. He is Lord of the day, so it must be kept for his honor. It was through him that God made the world, and so it was through him that the Sabbath was first set apart. It was also through him that God gave the law at Mount Sinai, so the fourth commandment was his law. And when the day was later moved forward to the first day of the week, it was done to remember his resurrection. For that reason, the Christian Sabbath was called the Lord’s day (Revelation 1:10), the Lord Christ’s day. As Mediator, meaning the one who stands between God and people to bring them together, Christ is always to be seen as Lord of the Sabbath. He strongly used this point to defend himself when he was accused of breaking the Sabbath (John 5:16).