One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
Christ had been put to justify himself in conversing with publicans and sinners: here he is put to justify his disciples; and in what they do according to his will he will justify them, and bear them out. I. He justifies them in their not fasting, which was turned to their reproach by the Pharisees. Why do the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast?
Commenting on Mark 2:18-28
And the Pharisees said unto him,.... To Christ, the same they said to his disciples, Luk 6:2. Behold, why do they on the sabbath day, that which is not lawful? see how they pluck the ears of corn and rub them, and eat things, which by the law, especially by the traditions of the elders, were not lawful to be done on the sabbath day; See Gill on Mat 12:2.
Verses 23-28. See . The corn fields. The fields sown with grain, wheat, or barley. The word corn, in the Bible, refers only to grain of that kind, and never to maize or Indian corn. To pluck the ears of corn. They were hungry, (Matthew.) They therefore gathered the wheat, or barley, as they walked, and rubbed it in their hands to shell it, and thus to satisfy their appetite.