The first of these exceptions to the required rest of the Sabbath Day was illustrated by the case of the disciples who were accused by the Pharisees of breaking the Sabbath because as they walked through the fields they picked the ripened ears and thus, according to the interpretation of their enemies, were guilty of working on the Sabbath Day. Our Lord did not deny that the Sabbath law had been broken. He merely referred his enemies to the case of David and his followers who, forced by hunger, broke the Mosaic Law in entering the tabernacle and eating the “showbread.” Jesus argued that, when necessary to relieve their hunger, his followers were also justified in disregarding the law of rest. An illustration of the second exception to the law of absolute cessation from labor was given “on another sabbath” when in the synagogue Jesus healed a man whose right hand was “withered.” The Pharisees regarded this action of Jesus as another breach of the law of rest. Jesus defended his action on the ground that it was dictated by mercy and that work which secured relief from suffering was allowable on the Sabbath Day. He replied to his enemies by a searching question, assuming the principle that refraining from help is the same as inflicting harm. He, asked them whether they regarded the Sabbath Day as of such character as to make it right on that day to do that which on other days was wrong: “I ask you, Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to destroy it?” While Jesus taught that the law of rest might thus be broken to meet the necessities of man and to show mercy to those in need or in distress, he by no means abrogated the Sabbath. He declared, however, that “the Son of man is lord of the sabbath,” by which he meant that as the representative of men he had a right to interpret the Law for the highest good of man. He was justified in relieving the Sabbath from the narrow and burdensome observances which had been bound upon it by the Pharisees and to restore it to mankind as a glad day of rest and of refreshment and of fellowship with God. C. The Third Period. Chs. 6:12 to 8:56 1. The Choice of the Twelve. Ch. 6:12-19