Plucking Grain on the Sabbath and Trespassing

Over on Laudator Temporis Acti, Michael Gilleland has an interesting post on Plucking Grain on the Sabbath (Matt. 12.1-2 // Mark 2.23-24 // Luke 6.1-2). He asks a question that hadn't even occurred to me before, which shows how much I've allowed myself to think of the pericope in terms of the form-critical "What were the Pharisees doing spying on the disciples?" hermeneutic, and that is: Who owned the corn and what did the owner think about it?

Update (Monday, 10.25): On Laudator Temporis Acti, Michael Gilleland has more: Penalties for Stealing Crops.