Matthew 12:5 reads: "Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?"
Description:
Priests must slaughter animals, kindle fires, and do strenuous physical labor on the Sabbath for temple worship.
Jesus argues that if temple work justifies breaking the normal rhythm of the Sabbath, His disciples' compassionate and necessary act of feeding their hunger is similarly blameless.