[Steve Myers] Now, you may be wondering why this crazy drawing of a pig is up here on
the board. Well, we just did a program that was called "You Are What You Eat" on Beyond
Today. And a question came up about that program because we talked about God's dietary food
laws that we don't eat pork, we don't eat shellfish, we don't eat those things that
are outlined in Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 11.
Well, one of the questions was regarding what Jesus Christ said. That's something that's
important that we need to talk about for a moment. Over in the book of Mark, Mark 7:18
here's a direct quote from Jesus Christ. He said, "Are you thus without understanding
also? Don't you perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him because
it doesn't enter his heart, but his stomach and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods."
So, they asked the question about what Jesus said. Didn't Jesus just say that we can eat
anything? Because it's not anything from outside that defiles us. So whatever was not edible
in the past—well, it's okay to eat it now because it's not entering into your heart.
Well, is that really what Jesus meant? Is that what He was saying in this particular
section of scripture? And the answer is no. No, not at all.
In fact, if you look at what the context is of this section in Mark chapter 7, the context
is not talking about food. It's not about clean or unclean meats. It's not about dietary
food laws. If you read at the very beginning of the chapter, it gives us the context. Mark
7:1 it says, "Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him having
come from Jerusalem." So we have the religious leaders of the day. Now, what did they say?
Verse 2, "Now when they saw some of His disciples," that's Jesus' disciples, "Eat bread with defiled,
that is unwashed hands, they found fault." (Mark 7:1-4)
So we see, right from the very beginning of this chapter, the topic was eating with unwashed
hands. That was the problem. The Pharisees had a specific way that you had to ceremonially
wash your hands. And if you didn't wash your hands that way, you could not eat. You had
to wash your hands in that way.
In fact, Christ refers to that just a little bit later in verse 8. Mark 7:8, here's a direct
quote from Christ, He said, "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition
of men, the washing of pitchers and cups and many such things you do." And so Christ made
it very clear it wasn't about washing hands. That is not the issue. That's the problem
that the Pharisees had.
So, it didn't matter if you washed your hands because Christ said—you know, if something
was on your hands and you ate some food, what would happen? Well, the digestive process
would clean it out. And it would be gone. And so it wasn't about pork. It wasn't about
eating shellfish. It wasn't saying any of those things are okay. It was saying that
if you think you have to ceremonially be clean in order to eat anything—that is wrong thinking.
And that was the issue that Christ talked about (Mark 7:14-19)
It didn't change the fact that when you look at God's food laws—those dietary food laws,
Leviticus 11 maps them out. Deuteronomy 14 specifically shows what was set aside as food
by God.
The point that Christ was making here was not about food. It was about our thinking,
our thoughts.
He said the digestive process would take care of a little dust or dirt that might be on
your hands, but what was more important than that was what Christ said just a little bit
later. He said, "From within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornication, murders, thefts, covetous, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
pride, foolishness" (Mark 7:20-22).
So what was Christ more concerned about? He was concerned about people's thinking, about
their hearts, about their actions. He said, "All these evil things come from within and
defile a man" (Mark 7:22).
So, you see, Christ was more concerned about our thoughts and our actions, than a little
bit of dirt that might be on your hands. So the point still stands. Leviticus chapter
11, Deuteronomy 14 maps out what we should eat. It didn't change a thing.
So when you look at what we should eat, follow what the Bible says. Follow what Jesus Christ
Himself did. And follow God's dietary food laws.
That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.