Dionysus on a Bike

Matthew 12:1-8 – 6/10/2026

For Jesus, more important than following ritual law, like not doing any work on the Sabbath, is that people are fed. Food and drink are central to the ministry of Jesus. From the first miracle at the Wedding in Cana to the charge against Jesus by religious leaders that he eats and drinks with sinners instead of fasting, from the feeding the 5000 with only a few loaves and fishes and calling himself the Bread of Life to the institution of Holy Communion, a festive, ritual meal of bread and wine, Jesus prioritizes eating and drinking, especially in community settings, and integrates language about food and drink into the message of the Gospel itself.

Here in Matthew 12, Jesus’s attitude toward is even more straightforward and down-to-earth than a ritual meal or using a material allusion to explicate a spiritual truth. It’s the Sabbath and like every day, the disciples are hungry. This is not theology; this is the simple necessity of eating to live and the need to eat every day, especially when one is traveling on foot as Jesus and the disciples are. Simply in order to carry on, the disciples need to eat. Fortunately there is readily available food around them. Gleaning a few kernels of wheat in a field owned by another as a snack to keep walking is acceptable and not considered stealing. The only problem, picking the wheat is work, and the Sabbath is a holy day specifically set aside, by law, for rest with work being prohibited.

The reasons for keeping the Sabbath are many, far too many to explore in this short reflection. There is a spiritual side; keeping the Sabbath is to direct our attention away from the prosaic to the divine. There is also a practical side to keeping the Sabbath; it changes the rhythm of daily life so that there is intentional time set aside for community and to let the body rest. All of these are good. Keeping the Sabbath as following the law God gave Israel is right and just and good for the people. But food is more important, at least here for Jesus.

I am not claiming that food is more important than everything. However, I am claiming that material need, especially material need as pressing as nourishing our bodies each day usually comes first before we can attend to the spiritual, to the deepest needs and recesses of the human heart. This is not a particularly deep insight. Rather it is simply a recognition of what it is to be human including how our needs are structured. For most people, in most situations, they cannot be attentive to the spiritual and to building community—the reasons for the Sabbath—if they are hungry. If people are without food, they are not going to be in a position to care about living excellent lives that are pleasing to God. They are not going to care about study and fellowship and working in service for the Kingdom of God.

Eat, drink, satisfy your needs and work for the satisfaction of the needs of people around you. These may not be more important than living well according to the commands of God, but following our call requires nourishment. Feeding yourself is worth even breaking the law.

Reflections of a Dionysian Lutheran, comments on the daily readings of the Revised Common Lectionary by Justin Marquis