Mark 2:24-26 - Why are they doing what is unlawful?

2:24

The Pharisees objected to what the disciples were doing because it was the Sabbath. Now there are two important points to be aware of. The first is that the Sabbath was indeed a very important matter. It is one of the ten commandments. The prophets mention the Sabbath (e.g Isaiah 58:13; Ezek 20:16). Secondly the religious leaders had produced all sorts of detailed rules on what constituted work on the Sabbath. They clearly thought that what the disciples were doing was “work”.

2:25,26

Jesus reminds them of an incident involving David and his men when they took some of the consecrated bread. Under the Law only the priests could eat this bread (Lev 24:5-9), but the priest allowed David and his men to have some of the bread (1 Sam 21:1-6). So what is the point that Jesus is making here, for the incident referred to had nothing to do with the Sabbath? I think there are two possibilities. One is that the priest in David’s time allowed the Law to be broken because of the circumstances, so if a priest could do that, how much more did Jesus have the right to let His disciples eat the ears of corn? A second possibility is that Jesus is demonstrating that the Law was never intended to be applied in an absolutely fastidious manner.