Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 12:8

"For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath." — Matthew 12:8 (ASV)

This sets the whole matter beyond further question. “The Son of man,” Christ Jesus, being in union with the Godhead, “is Lord” of everything which lies in the range of that law which concerns God and man, since He is Mediator, and therefore He may arrange and dispose of Sabbaths as He pleases. He has done so and has interpreted the Sabbatic law, not with license, but with a sweet reasonableness which the more rigid of religionists do not exhibit.

From His example and teaching we learn that the Sabbath is not profaned by works of necessity, piety, or mercy and that we do not need to heed the sharp speeches of hypercritical formalists who strain the Sabbatic law and make a bondage of what was intended to be a season of holy rest.