Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 2]
God. It was renewed on the commencement of the sabbath and the
old bread deposited on the golden table in the porch of the
Sanctuary. This old bread was eaten by the priests as they came
and went. This is what David ate.
2:27 {For man} (\dia ton anthr•pon\). Mark alone has this
profound saying which subordinates the sabbath to man's real
welfare (mankind, observe, generic article with \anthr•pos\,
class from class). Man was not made for the sabbath as the rabbis
seemed to think with all their petty rules about eating an egg
laid on the sabbath or looking in the glass, _et cetera_. See
2Macc. 5:19 and _Mechilta_ on Ex 31:13: "The sabbath is
delivered unto you and ye are not delivered unto the sabbath."
Christianity has had to fight this same battle about
institutionalism. The church itself is for man, not man for the
church.
2:28 {Even of the sabbath} (\kai tou sabbatou\). Mark, Matthew
(Mt 12:8), and Luke (Lu 6:5) all give this as a climax in the
five reasons given by Christ on the occasion for the conduct of
the disciples, but Mark has the little word "even" (\kai\) not in
the others, showing that Jesus knew that he was making a great
claim as the Son of Man, the Representative Man, the Messiah
looked at from his human interest, to lordship (\kurios\) even of
the sabbath. He was not the slave of the sabbath, but the master
of it. "Even of the sabbath, so invaluable in your eyes. Lord,
not to abolish, but to interpret and keep in its own place, and
give it a new name" (Bruce).
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Word Pictures in the New Testament
(Mark: Chapter 2)