One sabbath day Jesus and his disciples were walking through a corn field. As they walked through the field, the disciples were picking ears of corn, taking off the husks and eating the grain. In itself there was absolutely nothing wrong with that; it was allowed. But when some Pharisees saw what they were doing, they asked Jesus why his disciples were doing something forbidden on the Sabbath. All kinds of manual work, including reaping, were forbidden.

It was an indication of the nitpicking minds of the Pharisees that they regarded what the disciples were doing as 'work'. Jesus answered them with a question. What did they have to say about David and his soldiers, when they were hungry, going into God's house and taking the Loaves of Proposition, set aside for the worship of God and eating them, even though only the priests were allowed to do this? What David did was much more serious than what the disciples were doing. Would the Pharisees condemn David? Then Jesus said, "The Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath." Jesus, as the Son of God, was not bound by man-made regulations. Nor, in certain circumstances, were His disciples.

Jesus was constantly stressing that the real needs of people always took precedence over man-made regulations. Sometimes we forget that and put church rules above people's real needs. If I see a person in serious need when I am on my way to Sunday Mass - what should I do?