Luke 6:1-5. As Jesus and his disciples are passing through a grain field on the sabbath, the disciples pick and eat some of the grain. Some Pharisees see this and ask Jesus why his disciples are doing something that is unlawful on the sabbath. Jesus reminds them of when David and his men, when hungry, ate the bread of the Presence which is unlawful for anyone but priests to eat. Then he says "the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."

It is interesting that I had the reading about David and his men eating the bread of Presence just a few days ago! When David did this, there was a real sense of emergency - he and his man had nothing to eat, so David requested the bread of Presence. Here there is no sense of emergency - the disciples may have been hungry, but they did not have to pick the grain in order to eat. It really is seems more like an afterthought - something they were doing as they walked along on a beautiful day with their Savior. If David had eaten the bread of Presence in this way, I think it would have been troublesome. But David, although a "type" of Jesus, is not Jesus. David is not the Lord of the Sabbath, but Jesus is. Jesus is the Lord of everything.

There is nothing to do but celebrate when we are in the presence of God - no reason to fast or deny oneself. Jesus is inviting us into communion with Him on the sabbath. It would be wrong to not be joyful and celebratory in His presence. He is, in fact, the bread of the Presence Himself. This passage is very evocative of the Eucharist in that way. And this is why Sundays are always a day of celebration!