Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 12:6

"But I say unto you, that one greater than the temple is here." — Matthew 12:6 (ASV)

In this place is one greater than the temple — A better translation is, Here is something greater than the Temple. In the better manuscripts, the Greek adjective is neuter. We can imagine that the word “here” was accompanied by a gesture that interpreted the words, similar to when Jesus said, destroy this temple (John 2:19). This referenced passage clearly provides the true explanation for our Lord’s assertion of His greatness here. Since it was probably spoken to scribes from Jerusalem, it may have been intended to remind them of that event.

The body of the Son of Man was the truest and highest temple of God. Therefore, the disciples who ministered to Him were entitled to at least the same privilege as the priests in the Temple at Jerusalem.

However, the scope of these words is wider than this first and highest application. We are taught to think of the bodies of other human beings as also being, in their own way, temples of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). From this, the conclusion follows: all works of love done for the bodies or souls of men do not interfere with the holiness of a day of rest any more than the ministrations of the priests did as they labored to exhaustion in the Temple's ritual.

Since the disciples were not engaged in any direct service to their Master at the time, but were simply satisfying their own hunger, their act, strictly speaking, came under the general rather than the special application of these words. To those who understand his true worth, man as such is greater than any material temple.