Jesus explained why he had authority to decide what his disciples should do on the Sabbath day.

Luke 6:1-11

6 One ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►, while Jesus was walking through some grain fields with his disciples, the disciples picked some of the heads of grain. They rubbed them in their hands to separate the grains from the husks, and ate the grain. The law of Moses permitted people to do that if they were hungry. 2 Some Pharisees who were watching said to Jesus, “◄You should not be doing on our rest day work that our laws forbid!/Why are you doing on our rest day work that our laws forbid?►” [RHQ] 3 Jesus wanted to show them that the record in Scriptures indicated that God permitted people to disobey certain religious laws when they needed food. So he replied, “It is written in the Scriptures what our revered ancestor, King David did when he and the men with him were hungry. You have read about that, ◄but you do not think about what it implies/so why do you not think about what it implies?► [RHQ] 4 David entered God’s big worship tent and asked for some food. The high priest gave him the bread that the priests had presented to God. It was permitted in one of Moses’ laws that only the priests could eat that bread. But even though David was not a priest, he ate some, and gave some to the men who were with him. And God did not consider that what David did was wrong!” 5 Jesus also said to them, “I am the one who came from heaven, so I have the authority to determine what is right for my disciples to do on the day of rest!”

6 Another ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► Jesus entered a ◄synagogue/Jewish meeting place► and taught the people. There was a man there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The men who taught the Jewish laws and the Pharisees who were there watched Jesus, to see if he would heal the man ◄on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day►. They did this so that, if he healed the man, they would accuse him of disobeying their laws by working on the day of rest. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Come and stand here in front of everyone!” So the man got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to the others, “I ask you this: Do the laws that God gave Moses permit people to do what is good ◄on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day►, or do they permit people to harm others? Do they permit us to save a person’s life on our day of rest or to let him die [HYP] by refusing to help him?” 10 They refused to answer him. So after he looked around at them all, he said to the man, “Stretch out your shriveled hand!” The man did that, and his hand became all right again! 11 But the men who taught the Jewish laws and the Pharisees were very angry, and they discussed with one another what they could do to get rid of Jesus.