Sidney UMC - 11th Sunday after Pentecost - 08/16/20 - Sermon - “What Are We Allowed To Eat?"

Sunday 08/16/20 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title:        “What Are We Allowed To Eat?”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 133                                      

New Testament Scripture: Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 15:10-28

          Welcome again my friends, on this the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. Eleven Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved in Jerusalem, nearly two thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost, and the Christian Church was born.

          With this said, in our gospel of Matthew lesson for this morning, once again, Jesus is challenged by Pharisees and scribes, because his disciples have not washed their hands properly before they began to eat (Mt. 15:1-2, NRSV). To better explain this, let me read to you what is written before our gospel of Matthew lesson for this morning. In Matthew 15:1-9 it says:

“¹Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” ³ He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ ⁵ But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’ then that person need not honor the father. ⁶ So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: ⁸ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; ⁹ in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’” (Mt. 15:1-9, NRSV).

          What you will notice in this scripture, is that the Pharisees and the scribes did not mention the scripture to Jesus, but rather the tradition. The Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus, your disciples are not breaking God’s word, but they are breaking tradition.

          In the universal Christian Church, there are many traditions that we share, as I can imagine this is true of other religions. For example, many of us put up Christmas Trees every year, and in the church, sometimes we decorate our Christmas Trees with “Crismons”. “Crismons” are historic symbols of the Christian faith. We celebrate the seasons of Holy Lent and Advent, and we start the season of Holy Lent with Ash Wednesday. We have a service every year on Holy or Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. We wear crosses or crucifixes. There are many things that we do within the worshiping tradition and the life of the church that are not required scripturally. Christmas Trees, Advent Wreathes, and some of the seasons in our liturgical calendar are not strictly biblical. They are not unbiblical, but they emerged throughout the centuries, as part of the worshiping tradition of the Christian Church. For example, I do not read anywhere in scripture where it says that we should have a Christmas pageant with our kids around Christmas, but for many churches it has become part of the tradition of the church. Putting out our Nativity Scenes, and our crèches with the baby Christ, is part of the tradition of the church. I believe that all these things are fine if they do not harm the faith of the church or go against the Holy Scripture of the church.

          This morning in Matthew’s gospel, the Pharisees and scribes are criticizing Jesus and his disciples, not for violating scripture, but for violating tradition. Jesus then challenges the Pharisees and scribes right back, telling them that they are using the tradition to ignore the scripture. Tradition is good, unless it undermines the scripture and the faith of the church. What if the Christmas Pageant is so bad and is so disruptive that fifty percent of your church leaves for good? Maybe that tradition needs to be changed, as it is harming the faith of the church.

          To defend his position further in our gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus talks about eating, and connects it to faith and biblical holiness. Due to this, I thought that it would be fun this morning to talk about dietary restrictions and the Christian faith. Or to put it another way, as Christians, “What are we allowed to eat?” Are there any foods that are off limits to us?

In some Christian denominations there are certain dietary rules. This is true of other religions, as well. For example, in the Hindu religion, concentrated largely in the country of India, many people see cows as sacred animals. For this reason, many Hindus do not eat beef. I remember reading an article a few years ago about how McDonald’s restaurants in India serve Lamb, rather than beef. From what I understand for example, many or maybe all Buddhists are vegetarians, and do not eat meat.

Devout Jews and Muslims often do not eat pigs, and devout Jews do not eat shellfish. Devout Jew’s are supposed to buy food that is “Kosher,” and devout Muslims are supposed to buy food that is “Halal”. In these dietary systems, there are religious rules about the preparation and the production of food. Certain requirements must be met to make food “Kosher,” or “Halal”.

In some Christian denominations or traditions is strictly forbidden to ever drink or consume alcohol, and in some religious traditions you cannot drink coffee. Why? Well because coffee has caffeine, and caffeine is a drug. I thank God that most Christian expressions that I am aware of do not forbid coffee!

          So as Christians, “What are we allowed to eat” and drink? Do Methodists have dietary restrictions? Do Southern Baptists? Do Lutherans? Do Roman Catholics? Etc.?

          As a general and a broad statement, from the research that I have done for this sermon, there are many fewer dietary restrictions for most Christians that I have studied, than many other religions. In fact, I remember when I went to Israel or the Holy Land with my seminary in 2014. We visited a former Knight’s Templar castle and fort. We were told by the tour guide that when the excavation of the site had begun years ago, that excavators knew very quickly that this has been Christian land. What was interesting to me, is that the excavators determined this not because they found crosses or crucifixes, not because they found other Christian items, but because they found pig bones in digging up the site. They did find some other Christian artifacts, but they also found pig bones. The tour guide then said that devout Jews and Muslims do not eat pigs, because they consider them to be unclean animals. Therefore, the excavators were certain right away, that this land had been inhabited by Christians.

          So, we have traditions and some dietary traditions. For example, if you are a Methodist, you are required to bring casseroles and covered dishes to dinners and people’s homes. Not really, but it just seems that way! Jewish priests washing their hands, therefore, became a Jewish tradition. This Jewish tradition and many others are found in the “Mishnah,” which is part of the “Talmud”. These are not the Bible but include traditions that developed over the centuries in Judaism.

As Jesus responded to the Pharisees and the scribes in Matthew 15:1-9, as I just read, this morning once again, Jesus then explains this further to a crowd near him. Once again, this is what Jesus says this morning regarding valuing a tradition over faith and the word of God:

“¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” ¹² Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶ Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile” (Mt. 15:10-28, NRSV).

 

            Jesus does not directly challenge the Old Testament Jewish dietary laws of not eating pigs and shellfish here, for example, but he certainly does not defend them either. Jews and Christians are are not supposed to eat food sacrificed to idols, it is good to ask God’s blessing over our food, but Jesus is saying that it is not what we eat that is the problem. The problem is not what goes in our mouth, rather the problem is what comes out of our heart and our mouth. I don’t think that Jesus is telling us here to eat anything or to put anything in our mouth, but what he is saying is that what we believe and how we live that is more important than washing our hands perfectly. For example, what if we followed strict religious dietary laws, followed strict religious rules, but at the same time had little faith and little righteousness?

          Different types of Christianity and other religions then have some different dietary restrictions. Growing up in a family that was largely Roman Catholic, I remember no meat on Fridays in Lent. Yet there was a lot of good fish on such Fridays!

          Further, some of us have dietary restrictions that have nothing to do with our religion or Christian denomination. Some of us have allergies, like a gluten allergy, a nut allergy, a dairy allergy, a chocolate allergy, etc. Some of us also have special diets around health issues, as well. So, some of us have dietary restrictions around allergies or our health.

          In our Psalm 133 reading for this morning once again, it says:

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”      (Ps. 133:1, NRSV).

 

          So, if you are at someone’s house, and there are special dietary rules, my advice is, just go with it! If you were staying with a conservative Jewish family for a couple of days, do not ask for bacon for breakfast! If you are staying with a conservative Southern Baptist family for a few days, do not ask where the liquor cabinet is! If I am at my Roman Catholic aunt’s house on a Friday during Lent, and she asks me what I want for dinner, I am not going to ask for cheeseburger!

          As Christians then, why can we eat pigs? A big reason for this is from the Book of Acts 10:9-16 that says of the Apostle Peter:

“⁹ About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. ¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³ Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” ¹⁵ The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven” (Act 10:9-16, NRSV).

 

          So, it is true that as Christians we have much fewer dietary restrictions than many other religions. As Christians, we can eat in many instances many more things some other religions. What I have just shared, are just some of the many reasons why people of different religions or different Christian traditions do or do not eat certain things.

          To finish our gospel lesson for this morning, our gospel lesson ends, once again, with:

“²¹ Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly” (Mt. 15:21-28, NRSV).

 

          So, this woman’s daughter who was possessed and tormented by a demon was healed instantly. The daughter was healed, not because her mother perfectly washed her hands, or because her hands we perfectly folded. The daughter was healed Jesus said, because her mother had great faith.

          As Jesus said once again this morning in Matthew 15:11:

¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles” (Mt. 15:11, NRSV).

 

          God bless, and Amen.