SermonStudio
Proper 4; Pentecost 3
Preaching
Preaching Mark's Gospel
A Narrative Approach
The series of controversy stories comes to an end with today's text. Two stories are put together for this Sunday. Both stories deal with the proper keeping of the sabbath. The matter of sabbath keeping was a powerful issue for the early church as it reached out to include Gentiles within its community. In the first story Jesus and his disciples were going through the grainfields on the Sabbath day plucking ears of grain for food. It would appear that the Pharisees interpreted this activity as reaping the grain, which was expressly forbidden on the sabbath.

