My First Bible #18: Matthew 7:6
Whilst it is very obvious to me why I noted down the verse that proceeds this one, I've no idea why I noted down this one. It may be even the very fact that, to me, it is puzzling. Jesus, who went to all the so-called unworthy people with his love and his message, and Jesus who bought holiness into places of brokenness and cross the boundaries of ritual impurity because he was purity itself, seems all of a sudden to be saying the complete opposite.
It seems that way, but in my opinion, this verse does not counter all Jesus' teaching about bringing what is holy into all the unholy corners of the world - instead, it balances it. The truth and the way revealed in the Bible are revealed through holding various things in tension.
A quick examination of what Jesus is saying in these two parallel sayings: we have 'what is holy' and 'pearls'. The phrase 'what is holy' may well have conjured up images of sacrificial food for Jesus' hearers, and it possibly also inspired perspectives such as those prescribed in the early Didache, which specified that the Lord's Supper was not to be shared with unbelievers. 'Pearls' has a more generic connotation of value, but it's interesting to note how the Kingdom of God is compared to a 'pearl of great price', worth more than anything else and worth giving everything for (Matthew 13:45-46).
I don't think there's justification for making this just about the Lord's Supper, but the link, however tangential, is useful because we should consider 'what is holy' to be what the Lord's Supper represents. The Holy Things of the Temple era were those things in which the presence of God dwells. But now, through the saving and purifying blood of Jesus, God makes his dwelling place in the fellowship of believers - that costly, pearl-like, Kingdom of God. In all my exploration of these various verses belonging the Sermon on the Mount, I've already noted that 'treasure in heaven' is worship itself, and that this is corporate - the treasure is the church where God dwells just as much as God himself.
Well that all sounds very vague - what does it mean in practical terms? It means that deep sharing of fellowship. It includes sharing in the Lord's Supper together, but this is but small part. It is our ministry to each other, our giving of ourselves to each other, as our worship to God, and ministering to each other the truths of the Gospel through Word, Prayer and Sacrament.
But what about the dogs and pigs - the people we're told not to share this with? At the time, both were insults (a shame for actual dogs and pigs - who are both intelligent animals - but that's not the point). Many have been tempted to assign these labels to certain people groups, and in the eyes of the more exclusivist Jewish groups of the time, their immediate response would be to assign the epithet to the 'unclean' Gentiles. Maybe others thought they were the 'sinners and tax collectors'. However, the rest of Jesus' ministry completely overturns people's existing ideas of who the 'dogs and pigs' were. Jesus showed how the unlikely showed discernment and responded to his message, whilst others who might have been expected to know better, rejected him and trampled his message, and him.
But this passage is a sure reminder that we will be rejected. It may be worth considering that both dogs and pigs are undiscerning in what they eat - they are ready to devour anything. That there are those who will want to take what is holy and destroy and, before turning round to try and destroy us.
Hearing these words should be balm to victims and survivors or abuse, including those who have suffered at the hands of those so-called Christian leaders, who might feel as though they should extend full grace and generosity to those who have trampled them underfoot. We do not need to endlessly give of ourselves to destructive relationships.
Does this always preclude service to those who appear hostile? Of course not. It does not preclude us from going to those who appear hostile because they have not heard the message, or are still yet to respond. I think it would be wise to generally apply this saying to those who have had ample opportunity to hear and have responded with violence. When sending out his disciples, Jesus instructed them to go around all the towns and villages, but if the people would not listen, to 'leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet' (Matthew 10:14). It also doesn't mean hiding away from those who are dangerous - if that were the case, then Jesus wouldn't have gone on to warn his disciples they would be flogged in Matthew 10:16, or would the apostles and many faithful people subsequently gone into very hostile situations to search out the lost sheep and bring them home. Nor does it preclude interceding for our enemies. No, it's not about location, but about the giving of our fellowship and the sharing of the Kingdom of God itself.
Ultimately, this balance against the self-giving and self-sacrificing generosity Jesus gives elsewhere reminds us that it is he who is the ultimate judge. There is a point where he says: 'this is up to me now'. We are not God, and we can take comfort in that.
The summer I was 17 years old I read my Bible cover to cover for the first time. I was captivated and completed the whole thing in 4 months. Although I clearly read it at quite a pace, I still jotted down passages that sprang out to me in my still relatively new faith. I still have that Bible, and the scraps of paper are still there, bookmarking each verse. So I decided to go through, 18 years later, and visit each of them. They are from the Good News Bible.
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