much in
earnest about keeping God's Law that they were not satisfied with what
was in the Scriptures. They followed many rules which had been made up
since the Scriptures were written. Unless a man kept all these rules,
it did not matter to the Pharisees how much good he did.

Jesus was always getting into trouble with them about the Sabbath. The
Pharisees had a list of thirty-nine different kinds of work that
nobody was allowed to do on the Sabbath Day. This list included so
much that unless a Jew was careful, he would be likely to break the
Sabbath without even knowing it.

If he tied a knot that could be untied with one hand, that was all
right; but if he took two hands to untie it, then he had broken the
Sabbath. He even had to be careful about sitting in a chair, for if he
happened to drag his chair across the dirt floor the Pharisees said
that he was plowing, which was a great sin on the Sabbath Day. It was
forbidden to make a fire on the Sabbath. And so, if a woman wanted hot
food, she had to cook it the day before, and keep it warm. But that
did not mean that she could set it on a stove. For the stove might get
hotter than it was, and make the food hotter, and that was just the
same as making a fire. The only safe way to keep a meal hot was to
wrap the dishes in cloth or pigeon feathers.

Jesus did not think that rules like this were what the Scriptures
meant when they said, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." He
did not think that this was the way to honor God. And because Jesus
did not agree with them about the Sabbath, the Pharisees were always
watching for a chance to put him in the wrong.

Once, when Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of
grain on the Sabbath Day, the Pharisees saw that the disciples were
eating some of the grain. There was nothing wrong with eating it, if
they were hungry. But the trouble was that in order to get the grain
they had to pluck the ears. That, said the Pharisees, was harvesting!
Moreover, they had to take the ripe ears and rub them in their hands
to get rid of the chaff. The Pharisees thought that that was just the
same as threshing! Such things to do on the Sabbath Day! The Pharisees
stopped the disciples, and demanded to know why they were doing
something that was against the Law.

[Illustration]

It was really Jesus with whom they wanted to pick a quarrel, and so
Jesus answered for the disciples:

"Why, you must have read in the Scriptures