that King David and his
soldiers once went into the Temple and ate some of the holy bread
which only a priest is allowed to eat. Surely if David could do a
thing like that, my disciples can pick a few ears of grain in a field!

"You don't understand what the Sabbath is for," Jesus went on. "We
aren't supposed to be slaves to the Sabbath; this day is meant to do
us good. The Sabbath was made for man; man was not made for the
Sabbath."

Then he added something else, which took the Pharisees by surprise:

"The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath."

They were puzzled. Jesus was talking again as though he was the
Messiah. So far as the Pharisees could see, Jesus was just a preacher
who broke the Law.

The Pharisees began to watch him still more carefully. They found
another chance to get him into trouble soon after this. Jesus had gone
into the synagogue to teach, and in the synagogue was a man whose hand
was withered and useless. On any other day there was no doubt that
Jesus would heal this man. But this was the Sabbath, and it was
against the Law to heal anybody on that day unless he were in danger
of dying. A man with a withered hand could wait another day. Surely
even Jesus would not dare to break the rules again!

Jesus knew that they were watching to see what he would do. They would
never forgive him if he made a move to heal this man.

He called out to the man,

"Stand up--up here, in front of everybody!"

When the man had come to the front, Jesus turned to the Pharisees.

"I am going to ask you something," he said. "If any one of you owned a
sheep, and it fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn't you lift it
out? And don't you think that a man is worth more than a sheep? You
say that it is against the Law to heal a man on the Sabbath. _I_ say
that it is _always_ right to do good to somebody, on the Sabbath just
the same as any other day!"

He looked around at the whole crowd. He was angry now. Would they
actually let a man suffer one day more than was necessary? He turned
back to the man with the useless hand.

"Stretch out your hand!" he commanded.

And when he spoke, the withered hand was healed, and made as good as
the other one.

The Pharisees went out of the synagogue, and their faces were hard
with anger.

"He has gone too far!" they said to one another.

"He is breaking all our good rules. It is not safe for the country to
have him around. He ought to die!"

[Illustration]

They re