1 At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him; 4 how he entered into God’s house, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? 6 But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:1-8 - World English Bible

The beginning of Matthew 12 reflected discussion on the Law in 5:17-48 but, this time, in the midst of controversy. On the Sabbath, the disciples plucked grain from the fields as they traveled. While travelers could pluck kernels, farmers could not reap (Deuteronomy 23:25), so the controversy was a matter of degree. Jesus pushed back with two references from Scripture: a direct one in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 (David feeding his troops with the show bread) and and an indirect one in Numbers 28:9 (Torah regulation allowing priests to prepare a lamb for sacrifice). Once he had set precedent, he asserted the priority of mercy over sacrifice (Hosea 6:6); someone was greater than the Temple. “ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Not only was Jesus master of legal interpretation (Matthew 5), he was master of the Law itself. The disciple should not worry about minutia in the Law, but devotion to the Son of Man.

How can you shift your focus away from duty to devotion to Jesus?