There is no way of knowing for certain which of the words credited to Jesus in the gospels were actually spoken by him. What we do know, is that the gospels were written by people who were not eyewitnesses to the events they describe.
We also know that the gospels were written some 40 to 60 years after the death of Jesus. The earliest Christian writings we have are the letters of Paul, which were written between 20 and 30 years after the death of Jesus. And Paul says nothing about the ministry of Jesus, or the things that Jesus might have said or done.
It would therefore seem that stories relating to the sayings and actions of Jesus circulated via the oral tradition in the years immediately following his death, until the time they were recorded in the gospels. The transmission of these oral stories may have originated with people who were eyewitnesses to the events described, but as we know ourselves, the more stories are told and passed from owner person to another, the more likely they are to be added to, embellished or changed to reflect the particular emphasis or bias of the individual telling the story.
So once a story finally reached one of the authors of the gospels, it was probably somewhat different to the original version told. Additionally, each of the gospel authors were probably writing to a particular early Christian community who were experiencing certain challenging situations because of their beliefs. It would therefore come as no surprise if they were to draw on stories they’d heard about Jesus being involved in situations similar to what their communities were facing, to explain how they should respond to those situations.
This is more than likely the case with the story from the Gospel of Mark about the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees regarding the disciples of Jesus picking grain to eat as they walk through a cornfield on the sabbath day.
According to the Mosaic Law crops weren’t to be harvested on the Sabbath (Exodus 34:21). The reasoning behind this law was that it prevented farmers from becoming greedy and ignoring God on the Sabbath, and it also protected labourers from being overworked.
The Pharisees interpreted the action of Jesus and his disciples—picking the grain and eating it as they walked through the fields—as harvesting; and so they judged the disciples as lawbreakers. But clearly the disciples weren’t harvesting the grain for personal gain; they were simply looking for something to eat. The Pharisees were so focused on the words of the law that they missed the intent behind the law. The response of Jesus in today’s story demonstrates that the intent of God’s law is to promote love for God and others.
It may well be that the early Christian community Mark was writing to was experiencing conflict with the Pharisees in relation to certain Jewish religious traditions that the early Christians didn’t believe they were required to observe, and so they wrote this back into the gospel as something Jesus experienced to show how he would have responded.
When once asked what was the most important law, Jesus is said to have answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
Clearly, the author of Mark’s Gospel is saying that observing tradition or rules is less important than treating others with love and compassion.
