Luke 6:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

NIV: Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

NASB: And He was saying to them, 'The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.'

CSB: Then he told them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

NLT: And Jesus added, 'The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.'

KJV: And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

NKJV: And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees have called out Jesus' disciples for plucking and eating grain heads on the Sabbath. To do so violates the Pharisees' manmade oral law. Jesus has pointed out that according to that line of reasoning, David didn't merely break the law, he obliterated it (Luke 6:1–4).

Keeping the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:8–11).

Jesus is saying the Pharisees have abused the law of the Sabbath. They are subjecting God's will to their made-up regulations; He is taking His rightful authority over it. It isn't clear if Jesus is clarifying the "spirit" of the law versus the "letter" of the law, or establishing a new law. It is interesting to note that no church leader in the New Testament, including Jesus, enforces the law of the Sabbath for the church. Jesus is not merely Lord of the Sabbath; He is our Sabbath (Hebrews 4). Taking a day of rest is a good thing, but it is not required for Jesus-followers.

Mark records a comment that Luke does not include. Jesus says, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). This is a restatement of a Jewish commentary on Exodus 31:13: "The Sabbath is given over to you and not you to the Sabbath." The Sabbath was meant to be a time of rest, not a burden. This directly segues into the next conflict Jesus has with the Pharisees. Is it okay to heal a man on the Sabbath, or is it unjustified work? Jesus' view is clear (Luke 6:6–11).

Luke 6:1–5 begins another altercation between Jesus and local religious leaders; this is the first related to the Sabbath. The Pharisees added rules to the Sabbath which served more as burdens than ways to honor God. Jesus counters that the Sabbath is for restoration and nurturing, not hardship. In the first occurrence, He defends the disciples as they pick grain heads. Next, He will heal a man with a withered hand (Luke 6:6–11). The purpose of the Sabbath is to refrain from labor, not refrain from good. Matthew 12:1–8 and Mark 2:23–28 also record this interaction.

Luke 6 contains two main sections of teaching and calls to discipleship. Luke 6:1–16 continues the pattern of Luke 5. The two ways in which Jesus sets aside tradition—this time by taking authority over the Sabbath—are paired with His call for the Twelve disciples. Luke 6:17–49 records Jesus' teaching on the ''level place,'' or His ''Sermon on the Plain,'' and a call to a crowd for general discipleship. Much of this material has parallels in Matthew 5 through 7, but it's not clear if the two accounts are of the same event. As a travelling teacher, Christ likely gave the same general message multiple times.

Luke 6 completes Jesus' call for disciples and followers that started in Luke 5. Luke 5:1—6:16 consists of three calls for disciples, each paired with two revolutionary teachings about Jesus' authority that increasingly infuriate the religious leaders. Luke 6:17–49 continues the theme with a general call for followers and a description of their responsibilities. In Luke 7:1—8:3, Jesus interacts with the other: Gentiles, women, and even the dead. This is followed by another general call (Luke 8:4–21), a series of miracles (Luke 8:22—9:17), and a final call for the Twelve to follow Him even more deeply (Luke 9:18–50).

Luke was a traveling companion of Paul (Acts 16:10) and a physician (Colossians 4:14). Unlike Matthew, Mark, and John, Luke writes his gospel as an historian, rather than as a first-hand eyewitness. His extensive writings also include the book of Acts (Acts 1:1–3). These are deliberately organized, carefully researched accounts of those events. The gospel of Luke focuses on the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke's Gentile perspective presents Christ as a Savior for all people, offering both forgiveness and direction to those who follow Him.