Food

In the midst of Jesus' response to the hand-washing matter with the Pharisees, and his subsequent explanations with his disciples, Mark throws in a parenthesis of implication. It says, "Thus he declared all foods clean."  Clearly someone inferred by what Jesus said that he was making a pronouncement by implication that all foods were OK to eat, and that Jewish dietary laws were rendered null and void. So what did Jesus say that led to this conclusion. It was the part where he said that it is not what goes into man that makes him unclean or defiles him. Paul reaffirms this teaching in 1 Tim.4 when he discussed those who tried to make abstinence from certain foods and marriage a condition of salvation. He says regarding food, "...which God created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." (By the way, why do we only pray before meals? Why don't we also read the word of God? Families used to do both at meals. We preserved one tradition and dropped another showing we pretty much follow what we want and leave behind what we don't want.)  In a day where we are "food obsessed" for health purposes it would be easy to equate what and how much goes into our mouths with spirituality. Not only did Jesus say all food is good but that man is not "defiled" by the eating of it, even with unwashed hands. I am not advocating for gluttony or a lack of concern for taking care of the temple of God by controlling out intake of food, but I am saying just as the Pharisees had turned their priorities upside down we can too.

Jesus switched the focus from intake to output. It is not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of a man. By saying this Jesus is teaching that the heart is the seat of desire, and desire is the manufacturing plant of sin. James says as much in his anatomy of a sin. He says, "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." (1:14-15) This thing James calls lust or desire is the beginning stage of sin. It is not sin itself but conceives sin. Man has sexual desire implanted within by God Himself as a means of both expressing love for one's married partner and for the procreation of the species. But, this same desire that accomplishes their wholesome and essential functions can be directed toward someone other than a spouse and now desire has conceived sin. This sin left unchecked can produce death in the person instead of life that was intended by the desire. This is what Jesus is saying defiles men. This originates in the heart. This comes out in actions and words.

Granted, childhood obesity is a serious matter in our society. But, Jesus would say that our society has a much more serious problem. The appetite that originates in the stomach is not our greatest enemy. It is the appetite that originates in the heart.