And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields, and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands...the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? And Jesus ...said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him, How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him, which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. [Luke 6:1-5]

"...the second Sabbath after the first... "

Why did the Bible approach this issue like this? Why did it mention a first and a second Sabbath separately? Could not this passage have read: "it came to pass on the second Sabbath?"
It shows that there was something usual, normal and common that was expected to happen at the first, but God decided to suspend it. The first Sabbath was the normal one, but God did not follow protocols. He did not follow dogma or doctrine. He chose to disappoint the expectations of men so that He would establish divine dependence and trust in Him.

The NKJV started this verse with the word now. It means that whatever happened on the first Sabbath has already passed, NOW at this second Sabbath, Jesus wants to do something different. The way the first sabbath went is not necessarily how The Lord would want the second to go. We cannot box God into a corner. No man can dictate to Him how He should run the affairs of the world, He is The Lord, and whatever pleases Him is what He does. I would be wrong to stick to a dying order when The Lord Himself has shifted gear. I would be foolish to stick with men of dogma, men who believe that “as it was, so it is now, and so will it ever be”, men who follow mechanics and never listen to the voice and the leading of the Holy Spirit for His next move.

For many people, status quo remains the same, they never listen to the Spirit. What worked yesterday is exactly what they want to practice today. They follow methods and rules. They follow timetable, dogma and pattern, but never the Holy Spirit. The methods of the last Sabbath is surely the method for today, and has been the same method practiced all along. Their order of service is always the same, the Holy Ghost is not given chance to interrupt. They go to church to perform, not to meet God. Doctrines direct their operations, not Jesus. Rules and regulations direct their habits, not grace. They collect offerings every time whether God sanctions it or not...

In other words, sometimes we are expecting God to do something and manifest Himself on the first Sabbath. We want things to follow an order, but God in His wealth of riches decides to hold on to watch our reactions. He wants to check whether we really are in need of Him or we just want to make history and have some good records. He chooses to withdraw and watch us. Once He notices that our quest for Him is not for selfish purposes, but because we love Him, He can decide to show up on His appointed Second Sabbath after the first seeming disappointment. The first Sabbath was for the test, the second is for revelation, and the second only comes after you have passed the test of the first. The "second Sabbath" of divine manifestation never comes unless Gods criteria and demand was met at the first. THE SECOND SABBATH IS THE NEXT CONSIGNMENT... THE FIRST consignment does not include the “corn field”, it does not include “eating”, but in this new Sabbath, Jesus Himself takes you by the hand and lead you into the corn field, and everywhere you turn, there are ears of corn ripe already for harvest. Every little word spoken finds men broken to the marrows, every meeting leaves behind bountiful harvests of souls...

"...he went through the corn fields…"

At the second Sabbath, Christ took His disciples through the corn fields. They had been hungry with nothing to eat, things were so dry, but today, Jesus broke the barren land, He broke the ground and sent revival, He took them through the midst of plenty, He opened up rivers of freshness into their spirit, heavens became opened and blessings flow unhindered.
One beautiful thing I discover here is that anytime it is The Lord that opens up a field of corn, a fountain of blessings, you will discover that the disciples BY THEMSELVES without further assistance will be the ones to pluck the ears of corn. Jesus did not need to pluck and spoon-feed them, He only opened up the field, and you will find several people plucking different species of corn that is specific to their needs. When The Lord suddenly opens up the field by His Spirit, you will open the Bible and freshness will flow, you will open your mouth and treasures you never planned will flow out to bless lives. Hearts of men will be satisfied.

As the disciples ate, they rubbed the corn in their hands, they rubbed the corn to remove every shaft. There would be discerning of spirits. Disciples would be able to separate shafts from the real food, there would be spiritual health once the Lord descends and opens up the field of corn. People would eat and drink and be satisfied without fear of contamination.

Sometimes, when we pray for revival and it seems to tarry, we cry out for The Lord to come and take us through the corn field, but it is as if we are kept outside, the reason is because we remain at the first Sabbath of handling issues by our human ideas without surrendering to the Lords methods. We must scale over this Sabbath, else, our wishes will never become a reality. We must surrender to The Lord and fulfil His criteria before He will come and take us through the field of corn, where there would be plenty of His grace. Once the heavens become opened, hallelujah, we will go out, and return with plenty ears of corn, souls that are reaped in the harvest field, we will rub them in our hands, and they will become firebrands for The Lord.

"...Pharisees said..., why do ye that ...? "

Now, whenever the Lord takes us into the field of corn and revival descends, certain Pharisees, men in church, men who should know better, often are the fire extinguishers. Men who ought to support the revival, but have settled into the flesh, perhaps because of the gains they have received due to the spread of ungodliness (some have gained honour, fame, popularity, name, money...), these men would be the major persecutors. Ungodly men outside church would be getting convicted and converted to Jesus, they would be easily plucked as ears of corn by the true disciples. But the Pharisees would not go into the reaping field with Christ, they would stay aloof, wishing to prevent the world from repentance by continuing to give them mere religion. And when their subjects begin to respond to Jesus, they will pick offence.

"...do ye...not lawful...on sabbath days…"

Many Pharisaic leaders and Pastors are already used to the coldness we experienced in the first Sabbaths. They had become adjusted to sin. Iniquity had become normal. Godlessness had become a second nature. Religion was only a palliative measure to minimise evil or add some sweet fragrance to it. Though they joined in praying for revival, they only did so as routine church activities, the passion for divine visitation was absent in their lives.

They preached against sin, but their hearts were not included. The messages were ordinary and could not pierce hearts. They expected everything to remain as they were. But once they saw that their means of gains were gone by the incoming revival, they immediately revolted.
For the Pharisees, plucking the ears of corn was an abomination, saving men to the uttermost was like oppression. They saw it as disrespecting the feelings of other people. They saw men in tears of repentance as a misnomer. They exalted the human rights preached by activists far higher than the word of God, and saw preaching against sin as "encroaching on other peoples privacies". To them, Sabbath was the day of the church, not necessarily the day of The Lord. They went to CHURCH to showcase their new dresses, they did not go to GOD for a heart searching probe.

If this describes your state, then you are a Pharisee regardless of your position in church, and you need to urgently repent.

"...Have ye not read...?"

Understanding the deep workings of God only comes when a man has buried his head reading the word of God. Pharisees will multiply when the word of God is not given a central place. The word of God here, is not just a mere reading and quoting of scriptures at the periphery to explain some Bible stories, but a deep tasking searching of scriptures to reveal the very heart of The Lord. The reason why there is so little understanding of the workings of the Spirit, why the law of the land holds more power in the lives of men than the word of God, is because the Searching of the heart of God through scriptures has been relegated to the background.
A church where more time is given to dancing, activities, offerings and music at the expense of the word, such church will breed multiple Pharisees among the leadership. They would exalt societal undertakings above passion for souls. Honour amongst them would be defined by the external flamboyance, and not by internal brokenness.

"...have ye not read SO MUCH AS THIS... "

Jesus is saying something very deep and fundamental here. He is not saying that these man-made leaders were not reading or opening scriptures, He was only saying that they do not devote much time unto scriptures to the extent that scriptures forms and becomes their nature. They read, but they did not meditate and hide the word in their hearts. They read the word, but they do not live by the word. Scriptures does not regulate their lives and conduct, it does not dictate and spell out their boundaries, they read only to silence their consciences. They read because it is good, but never as the food. Their lives are formed by other things, but not by the word.

Wherever the deep revelations of Gods word is missing, you will find Pharisees, and not disciples, men looking for gain rather than God. A deep interpretation of spiritual things will be scarce unto any man who only skims over the word of God without conscious efforts to meditate and get riches from it.
It is better not to even read the Bible if you are not ready to search it through because you will cause more harm than good. You will misinterpret and misapply the word because you never waited to get divine revelation from it. The Pharisees have probably read the portion where Jesus referred to, but they never ate it, so they opposed what they ought to support.

"David...hungred... went into the house of God...eat shewbread…"

Some things are consecrated for the priests alone. Some things are so sacred, they are pearls in the hands of the Almighty and He does not just throw them anyhow to the dogs. They are hallowed and consecrated for the priests alone.
Some revelations are deep, those without backbone and strength cannot receive it. Some things are already labeled and set apart for certain men with clear inscription: "...FOR THE PRIESTS..." written on them. Hence, anyone who does not belong to that class of Priests cannot partake of the special treasure.

There is a "showbread" right at the altar, it is only available in the holy place, where only the priests can reach. No man has the authority to pierce the veil into the holy place to partake of this showbread, except for those unto whom it is prepared "the Priests". The whole Israel already knows that THIS IS FOR THE PRIESTS. If you are not even a Levite, no matter how brilliant, committed, devoted or holy you are, you are already denied by reason of your tribe. You cannot partake of it. Nobody gives it a thought whether he should try his luck if in case some crumbs of the showbread may fall on his side, you could not even see it, let alone partake of it. It is the bread of the presence, it was kept in the holy place, and it could only be eaten in the holy place. Only those who could gain entrance into the holy place (the priests) could partake of it. It had to be eaten in the holy place, and could not be taken out, therefore, cutting off any possibility of outsiders from eating (or even seeing) the SHOWBREAD.

BUT..., there is something striking here. There is a man, his name is David. He does not fit the description of a Levite, his workplace is not the temple, he has no bearing with or understanding of temple activities, he is not from the tribe of Levi, but HE IS HUNGRY.He has no linkage with priesthood, but he is hungry. He does not have any linen ephod or any priestly garment of his, he is not wearing anything that looked holy or hallowed, but he is hungry. He has no bearing about the temple, but Bible says he went into the house of God! What about all the protocols of the temple? "Well, all protocols duly observed, not by his lineage or his dressing, but by his HUNGER". This man was even so bold, he took several other men with him into the temple. "Could not the temple guards stop him?" Who can stop, refuse or deny an hungry man? Who can hinder a man who will never take a NO for an answer? All protocols must surely bow…

Friends, even if you are not a priest, even if your name is not on the list of credible partakers, even if heaven did not shortlist you, that is why you never came through the Levitical lineage, even if you are not invited, BUT YOU ARE HUNGRY, your hunger alone will fulfill all criteria necessary to get you on board even without wearing a linen ephod.

So many priests there are, stingy with the showbread, they lay hold of it, eat alone, and clean their lips. They go into the temple and finish everything there, they never come out with even crumbs for outsiders, they observe protocols, but the world outside is dying of hunger of the LIVING BREAD. The "bread of the presence" is the ONLY bread that can feed men till they want no more, yet, so called priests are hoarding the bread and enjoying it alone. Those of us who are alien to priesthood and not ordained, but who want to be a voice for God are sidelined. Those of us who are not wearing the linen ephod, are disdainfully queried by senior men in regalia. They will ask, "is Saul also among the prophets? Who put Bible in your hand that you are shouting Jesus! Jesus? Who ordained you a priest unto the nations? where is your linen ephod and priestly regalia?” Some of us would be sanctioned, silenced, disciplined and even excommunicated out of the churches and labeled heretics.
But, the question the Bible is raising here is not the issue of whether you are qualified or not. It is not about age, lineage, colour, background, education, certificate, bible school, ordination, clan, gifts or whatever. The big question here is, "are you hungry?" "Is your passion for bread so consuming?” Even if God did not enlist you as a priest, you can partake in the blessings of the priests ONLY IF YOU ARE HUNGRY.

Are you hungry for revival? You do not need to be a revivalist, a pastor, a church founder or an evangelist before God can release revival upon the land through you, it is only a question of "how consuming your hunger for souls is!
People may shout and discourage you. They may quote "it is not lawful for you to eat of the showbread, but for the priests alone...", such laws are inapplicable to hungry men.

I do not necessarily need to be a priest to enter the holy place, take the showbread, eat and even share it with the company of those who are with me, I ONLY need to be A DAVID, the hungry man.

"...the Son of man is Lord..."

Here, Jesus is saying, "Yes! I am giving chance to as many who are not robed in priestly garment to break the protocol if only they are hungry. I will bypass men in regalia, and enlist these passionate and hungry men to bring out the sacred showbread and feed the nations…”

Some people may say "you are giving chance to everybody to proclaim Jesus..." Why not? Moses said in Numbers 11:29 that “I wish that all the Lords people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them”. If the whole land became hungry for God, would not we have a community where God reigns? God could bypass weak men in regalia, and execute His works through ordinary men.
God is ready to bypass protocol and constitution if He can get correct men, hungry men who are passionate to see Gods glory in the land of the living. He bypassed the big men in the palace and the temple in the days of John. He is ready to bypass all the Caesers, the Pilates, the Herods, the Philips, the Annas and Caiaphas, and sent His word to an unrecognized John in the wilderness:

”Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” [Luke 3:1-2]

Are you hungry?