The Lord’s Second Journey: to Jerusalem for the Second Passover and Homeward through Galilee

Following the calling of the evangelist Matthew, in the evangelists Mark and Luke comes the account of the plucking of ears of grain by the disciples on the Sabbath and the defense of their action by the Lord before the Pharisees who rebuked them for it. This Sabbath was the second first-day. Since such a Sabbath was called the Sabbath after the second day of Passover, on which the first sheaf of the harvest was usually brought to the temple, the plucking of ears of grain, indicating that the harvest at this time was already ripe, evidently took place in connection with Passover. This serves as the basis for placing between the calling of the holy Matthew and the plucking of ears the account of the holy John of the Lord Saviour’s stay at the Passover in Jerusalem, where He, having healed a man ill for thirty-eight years, then presented in the temple a clear teaching about His equality with God the Father. At the first Passover, when the Lord was only beginning His work according to the divine economy of the Incarnation, He by His miracles and teaching awakened in those who had faith only the conviction that God is with Him: which can also be said of any prophet. Now He raises them higher, expressly saying that He is the Son of God, equal in all things to God the Father. The time had to come when this had to be said for all to hear. The Jerusalemites with their church leaders had to be the first to hear of this, and then in due time the Galileans.

The Lord remained in Jerusalem, probably, for a short time; and it seems He only intended to speak openly about His equality with God the Father. The healing of the paralyzed man was only an occasion for the discourse about this.

Having accomplished His purpose, the Lord returned to Galilee. On the way, perhaps during the crossing of the valley of Esdraelon, He justified before the Pharisees the plucking of ears by His disciples on the Sabbath. Then on another Sabbath in the synagogue He justified His own action of healing the man with a withered hand, right there in the synagogue before all.

These two acts on the Sabbath and the defense of them before the Pharisees, with rebuke of the Pharisees themselves, greatly irritated them against the Lord, and they together with the Herodians began to plot something against Him.

But the Lord withdrew from them to the sea, probably to Capernaum, for