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  EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS ON LUKE - LUKE 6:1-5
  by J.C. Ryle
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JESUS AND THE SABBATH

We should notice, in this passage, what excessive importance hypocrites
attach to trifles. We are told that, "One Sabbath day as Jesus was
walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of
wheat, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grains." At once
the hypocritical Pharisees found fault, and charged them with committing
a sin. They said, "Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the
Sabbath days?" The mere act of plucking the heads of wheat of course
they did not find fault with. It was an action sanctioned by the Mosaic
law. (Deut. 23:25.) The supposed fault with which they charged the
disciples, was the breach of the fourth commandment. They had done work
on the Sabbath, by taking and eating a handful of food.

This exaggerated zeal of the Pharisees about the Sabbath, we must
remember, did not extend to other plain commandments of God. It is
evident from many expressions in the Gospels, that these very men, who
pretended such strictness on one little point, were more than lax and
indifferent about other points of infinitely greater importance. While
they stretched the commandment about the Sabbath beyond its true
meaning, they openly trampled on the tenth commandment, and were
notorious for covetousness. (Luke 16:14.) But this is precisely the
character of the hypocrite. To use our Lord\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/jc-ryle/expository-thoughts-on-luke-luke-61-5/
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