Daily Devo w/ Pastor Eric September
10, 2021
The Thing About Dogs and Pigs
Matthew 7:6 - “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your
pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and
tear you to pieces”
The
“pigs” half of this saying of Jesus is what gets the most press. In our culture, it has become a way of saying
something like, “I choose to not even engage you because you are unworthy of my
time, knowledge, or help; I don’t cast
my pearls before swine.” In other words, it has become a way to proclaim
judgement of another. But Jesus has just
taught in the preceding passages (see devo’s from last several days) that
judgement is wrong for anyone but God, so obviously, he’s not teaching us to
judge people worthy of our effort (or not).
So what is He saying?
First of
all, we need to remember that Jesus talks not just about pigs, but also about
dogs. It’s clear that Jesus wants us to
consider both together. Otherwise, why
not just use one example? Second, when
Jesus says “dogs,” we hear “man’s best friend.”
Dogs were no such thing in Jesus’s day.
Dogs were wild animals that traveled in packs and they were dangerous,
especially if they were hungry. You
throw anything to them that is not food and once they determine that it’s not
food, they no longer have any interest in it.
You, the thrower, actually can be food – hence the be torn to pieces
bit. The pairing of this saying about
dogs with pigs further clarifies Jesus’s intended meaning. Pigs are also animals that are not interested
in anything you throw at them unless it’s food. They probably won’t tear you to
pieces, but your offering will probably get trampled. Taken together, we see that Jesus wants us
not to offer people something that for which they obviously don’t have any
interest. It is a wasted and possibly
dangerous offering. It would be a better
choice to give them what they want if you give them anything at all.
This
saying is about discernment of needs, not judgement of character. To reinforce the point, make yourself the
“dog.” I don’t mean literally a dog, but
someone who is ravenously hungry and has become pretty single-minded about
getting something to eat. To coin a
fairly modern saying, you are “hangry” (the fun combination of “hungry” and
“angry”). You come up to the guy in the
park with a sizeable cooler of food sitting of the bench next to him. You ask if he has any food he could spare and
he answers, “the food is not for you, but have you accepted Jesus Christ as
your Lord and Savior?” At that moment,
how interested are you in hearing more about Jesus?
You might
become more interested if this cooler-hoarding guy gave you one of the
sandwiches in the cooler and a cold drink first. This is what Jesus is getting at – it’s about
discernment of needs, not judgement of character. The Gospel will be received much more warmly
if our first thought is to meet the immediate need. Both dogs and pigs have become “domesticated”
since Jesus’s time because they learned to trust people who took care of their
needs first. Jesus is suggesting that
the same approach works with people who don’t show any interest in our “pearls”
when we first happen upon them.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for your teaching about
pearls. Help us to not only understand
it, but practice your wisdom better.
Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for your closest friends today
Song:
BAND AID - ♥ ✩ Do They Know It's Christmas?
I know it’s not Christmas, but this song matches the message for today
of meeting needs and earning trust before proclaiming good news.
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