Grace and Grain

This sermon examines Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees when His disciples pluck grain on the Sabbath. It opens by setting the cultural and biblical background—showing that eating grain from another’s field while traveling was permitted under the law (Deut. 23). The disciples’ willingness to receive what they didn’t earn becomes a central application: many Christians struggle to receive help because of pride, self-sufficiency, or fear of appearing needy. Yet the gospel is about giving and receiving freely—grain and grace.

The Pharisees’ objection to the disciples’ actions is framed through the Mishnah’s idea of “building a fence around the Torah,” originally meant to protect God’s law. However, fence-building often turns into gatekeeping, where people decide who’s in or out of God’s kingdom. Jesus confronts this spirit, reminding them that He—not the Pharisees—is the Gardener, the King, and the High Priest.

Through two Old Testament references—David eating the bread of the Presence (1 Sam. 21) and priests working on the Sabbath—Jesus asserts His authority to declare what is lawful and to give His followers both grain and grace. The sermon closes with a call for humility and dependence on God: the story begins with hunger but ends with help; begins with grain but ends with grace; begins with the Pharisees but ends with Jesus—who still gives to the hungry when they simply say, “I need help.”