Mar 2:25 Have you never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?

Though this response is to an accusation regarding Christ and his followers picking grain on the Sabbath, this particular verse again identifies Christ and his followers as separate from the traditions of the Jews. Christ did not fast like John the Baptist because the wedding party does not fast when the groom is with them.

Like the verses prior to it in this chapter, Christ is uses food (usually in the form of bread) as symbolic of our human body and its needs. Bread is the symbol of the body with its needs. Eating the bread is symbolic of physical pleasure and survival. Pleasure is not separate from survival but part of it. Food symbolizes the whole feast, the celebration of the wedding.

The cup (or wineskin) is symbolic of the mind which holds knowledge as a cup or wineskin holds drink. Drinking from the cup is symbolic of making a commitment, choosing a path. While we think of tasting as a test (as the water that was converted to wine at Cana was tested), Christ reverses that: what we choose to drink tests us because it is symbolic of a commitment. Think of how we toast the bride and groom at a wedding as a symbol of their commitment.

As the cup is a vessel for the wine, so is our minds the vessels of knowledge but our knowledge is not a passive thing. In Christ's cycle, the mental leads to the physical, knowledge leads to action. Therefore, the cup we choose to drink from is a commitment to a certain action. In this verse, Christ reminds those who challenge him of what they should know or have read, because that knowledge justifies his action.

Clothing (or a cloak, the outer garment) symbolizes our emotions and relationships. Our emotions come from our connections with each other At the wedding feast, the guest without a wedding garment is thrown out. In this verse, the relationship is between David, the king, and his followers. Our position is defined by our relationships. Christ did not come to patch up the Jewish relationship with God, but to define a new relationship.

"Read" is from anagignôskô (anaginosko), which means "to recognize," "to know well," "to know certainly," "to know again," "to own," and "to acknowledge."

"Need" is from chreia (chreia ), which means "need," "want," "poverty," "a request of a necessity," "business," "military service," "a business affair," "employment," "familiarity," "intimacy," and "maxim."

"Hungry" is peinaô (peino), which means "to be hungry" or "to be starved," and it is a metaphor for desire and cravings.