"At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat." — Matthew 12:1
The Sabbath healing stories in the Gospels are symbolic instructions for restoring your inner alignment. Neville Goddard taught that the Sabbath represents the state of mental rest — the moment when you accept your desire as already fulfilled.
When Jesus heals on the Sabbath, a deeper message is being communicated: even if you fall out of the assumption, you can return instantly. The new state always has the authority to restore order.
The Sabbath: Rest in Fulfilment
The Sabbath is not a day but a condition. It is the inner rest that follows the acceptance of the desire as fact. The first pure example of assumption was shown as the opening creation story. You stop labouring, stop questioning, and simply abide in the end.
The Hungry Discipes
When the disciples are described as hungry, it signals that the inner qualities which follow you — faith, love, praise, and the attitudes that support a new assumption — are in need of renewal. Neville treats these “disciples” as the faculties that must be kept alive if the state is to hold. Their hunger shows that these qualities can weaken through strain, doubt, or distraction, and when they do, the simple remedy is to feed them: return to faith, revive love, and restore praise. The scene reminds us that tending to these inner aspects matters more than rigid mental rules; whenever they grow thin, you nourish them and move forward again.
The Pharisees: Mental Strictness and Old Rules
"But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” — Matthew 12:2
Just as Laban and Nabal the Fool represent being bound to a strict, inherited frame of thought, the Pharisees in these stories reflect that same inner rigidity. They are the accusatory rules of the mind that insist you have broken some imaginary standard — that you have waited too long, fallen out of alignment, or “failed” in your assumption. These figures symbolise the old patterns that cling to strictness for its own sake, resisting the freedom that comes from tending to your inner life rather than policing it.
The Beloved State and Its Right to Be Fed
"He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him:
how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?" — Matthew 12:3-4
When Jesus recalls David entering the house of God and eating the bread of the Presence, he is pointing to something deeper than a historical event. David — whose name means “beloved” — symbolises the state aligned with love, the very core of assumption in Neville’s teaching. The “bread of the Presence” is the sustaining awareness of God within, the inner nourishment reserved for those who dare to live from their chosen state. By showing David partaking of it, the story reveals that love — the beloved state — is always permitted to feed on the awareness of fulfilment, even when the old mental rules insist it is not allowed. Those who walk with this beloved state, like David’s companions, share in that nourishment; they are the qualities strengthened whenever you return to love as the foundation of your assumption.
Jesus Healing on the Sabbath: Restoration of the State
Each healing reveals that restoration is always possible. Whether it is the withered hand, the bent woman, or the man blind from birth, the message is the same: a part of you has slipped back into an old assumption, but the new identity — symbolised by Jesus — can correct it immediately.
“Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day?” — Mark 3:4
Neville taught that nothing is irreversible. The moment you return to the feeling of the wish fulfilled, the inner state is healed. The Sabbath healings dramatise this truth: that the assumption can be revived at any moment, without guilt or delay.
The Meaning for Us
These stories free you from the idea that a lapse disqualifies you. Jesus healing on the Sabbath shows that you are never too late to realign with your chosen state. You can restore your assumption the very moment you turn back to it.
"I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” — Matthew 12:7-8