Category Archives: Daily Reflection

‘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.

Matthew 7:6

Here in the UK, we’re in the midst of an election campaign. It could be quite an interesting election as no one party looks set to gain a majority. There was a time when my feet would scarcely touch the ground during an election. For a couple of elections I played a significant role at the heart of a local campaign, striving to get a good man elected to the House of Commons. I spoke to a great many people about the virtues of my friend and the political party he represented. Some people would listen carefully and say that they would be supporting my friend. Others said that they would be supporting one of the other candidates. A few people got really very angry when I told them who I was representing, ranting and raving about how ‘my lot’ had let them down, exclaiming that there was no way they would vote for us. Sometimes such people even ripped up our campaign leaflets right in front of me. I knew that when I encountered such a reaction, there was little point me trying to gain their support; there was clearly no way that they would ever vote for my friend!

Today’s verse, taken from Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount is potentially very confusing. Why, after his teaching on judging other people, does Jesus suddenly begin talking about dogs and pigs? What do these animals represent?

Neither dogs nor pigs would have been particularly well regarded at the time. Dogs were frequently wild, roaming the streets of towns and villages looking for food, and probably not afraid to give anyone who stood between them and their supper a bit of a nip. Pigs, meanwhile, were regarded as dirty and unclean; a good Jew would not have wanted to be in the vicinity of a pig.

Jesus clearly did not want his followers throwing stuff of value to these disreputable animals, but what could these sacred items, these pearls, be? Elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a pearl, so I suspect that this is what he has in mind here. The ‘sacred’ object he refers to is clearly related to the pearl, and many have surmised that Jesus could have the gospel in mind here.

The question remains – who do the dogs and the pigs represent? Just as I confronted people who responded in a surprisingly violent way to my political campaigning, there are no doubt people who will respond in a similar fashion to the good news of Christ. They have decided that the gospel is a load of bunkum and they have closed themselves off from the good news totally. Such people may metaphorically (and perhaps literally!) trample scripture under their feet and react violently to even a mention of the name Jesus. There comes a time when we should leave these people to their own devices, and move on.

Sharing the gospel with others can be quite tricky at times, but thankfully, evangelism is seldom greeted with such hostility as Jesus describes above. We should clearly continue to tell our friends about Jesus, and not be dissuaded from evangelism should be encounter such a negative response. Whatever response we receive, it is always useful and worthwhile praying that those whom we love who do not know Christ for themselves might have their hearts and minds opened to the good news of Christ.

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‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:1-5

Earlier this week I went back to my day job, teaching History, after a glorious three week holiday. I usually find the summer term to be pleasant, but busy. A great deal of my time during this term will be spent preparing my pupils for the end of year exams that they will face in just a matter of weeks. Some of my pupils will have exams that are marked by external examiners. It is important, therefore, that their work is not just of a good standard, but is legible. I find it hard to criticise my pupil’s handwriting, however. You see my handwriting is pretty poor. That is to say that it is not messy, per se, but it is small and can be difficult to read. Quite often my pupils have to come and ask me to read the comments I have put on their work because they can’t read my writing. It would feel a little odd under these circumstances if the comment I had written, that they were unable to read, was ‘watch the legibility of your handwriting’! Really I need to address my own weaknesses in this area before I can make comment on their poor writing!

Once again, in today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount, we find Jesus warning against hypocrisy, this time in terms of judging other people. Straight away, he warns, ‘do not judge, or you too will be judged’. The prerogative of judgement is assigned to Jesus himself; he has been entrusted with the ultimate judgement of all people. He is, of course, in an ideal moral position to judge, since he himself lived a perfect life, free from any sin or wrongdoing. We, on the other hand, have not lived sin free lives. There are plenty of wrongdoings in all of our lives.

The problem we encounter when we seek to judge others is that we are not blame-free ourselves. Often, when we judge others, what we are really doing is denigrating them purely to elevate our own position, to portray ourselves as holier than the person whom we are judging. Jesus issues a clear warning here. If we should seek to judge others,we will be judged in the same way. If we judge another person when we know that actually we are guilty of the same, or perhaps an even worse sin, then we are hypocrites and can expect to feel Christ’s anger when we face him at our own judgement. As Jesus puts it, we must first remove the log from our own eye before seeking to remove the sawdust from our brother’s eye.

Of course, we are not forbidden from holding each other to account. Nor are we told that we should not seek to correct the failings of our brothers and sisters within the church. If we see behaviour that is inappropriate, or someone stumbling in some other way we are not simply to ignore it and to leave our neighbours to their failings. We should help them to ‘remove the speck’ from their eye. We are to do so having first ensured that we are in a position to do so, and that we do not have any logs of our own that first need to be addressed. We are to do so remembering that we are all brothers and sisters, having been united as God’s children through the death and resurrection of Christ. And we must ensure that our correction is intended to encourage our brother or sister, to spur them on, and not simply because we are judging in order to portray ourselves as better than they are. We must not stoop to the practice of belittling others simply to elevate our own position.

Today, why not reflect on your own journey of faith. Are you aware of any stumblings in your own life, any planks that need to be removed from your own eye? Pray today that God will help you to see clearly any issues that you need to address in your walk with him. And remember, it is not forbidden to judge the behaviour of others. Any critique of others, though, must be handled in a loving manner, with the realisation that any judgement that we impose will also be applied to us.

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25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?31 So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34

Worrying seems to be a bit of a trait within my family. I remember my dearly loved Granny being something of a worrier – and indeed, she often used to worry about being a worrier. I think I’ve inherited this from her. I often find myself worrying, about all kinds of different things. I worry about small things, like whether my train will arrive on time, whether I’ll drop my wallet whilst out shopping, and if I’ll leave my phone somewhere. I worry about big things such as what will happen if I lose my job, or get arthritis in my fingers, or develop a brain tumour. Of course, ultimately I know it is silly to worry about these things. I have no control over most of these things, and most haven’t happened to me so far. What is even more silly is that I know ultimately, even if these eventualities come about, I’ll probably be okay. I have lost a job through redundancy, and actually, with hindsight it was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. So the question is, why worry at all?

That’s the lesson that Jesus brings us in today’s passage. ‘Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink,’ he says. Don’t worry ‘about your body, what you will wear’. We are not to worry about these things because our God is faithful and will meet our needs. Jesus talks about the birds, which don’t engage in complicated agricultural practices or stockpile food, yet are diligently provided for by the creator God who brings about the berries and seeds that they need to survive to grow. As for clothes, look at the flowers, Jesus says. They are discarded, thrown into the fire, yet God provides them with magnificent clothing that betters anything that even the richest princes might wear. Jesus also tells his followers to look to the pagans – to those who don’t follow Christ. They have no faith in God as faithful provider, and yet they have food to eat, drink to drink and clothes to wear. God knows that we need these things, and he will provide them for us.

That is not to say that we will not face difficulties during our lives. Birds face predators, harsh winters and the loss of habitats due to human encroachment. Flowers are cut down and easily destroyed. Jesus even says that ‘each day has enough trouble of its own’. Jesus knew when he was teaching this message that every day potentially brings challenges. We are to focus more on these daily occurrences than worrying about the future, the ‘what ifs’ that can so easily plague our idle minds. Most of these will never come to pass, and if they do, God will faithfully help us to cope with all that we might encounter in our lives.

Ultimately, if we worry about what our future might hold, we are questioning God’s faithfulness to us. Rather than emulating non-believers and running after fancy food, extravagant drink and posh clothes, we should run after the kingdom of God and the righteousness that living as citizens of the kingdom of heaven entails. We should make the establishment of God’s kingdom our primary concern. This, of course, means living as Christ as described in the Sermon on the Mount; making our focus loving God and loving our neighbour as ourselves, and striving to spreads Christ’s message of love, hope and forgiveness throughout the world. If we consciously put Christ first in all that we do, then we will have no reason to doubt that God will meet our needs. Furthermore, our humanistic tendency to find food, drink and clothes will become secondary considerations, brought in check by our primary focus on serving God.

Of course, knowing all of this in theory is one thing, but actually living a life that is free from worry is incredibly difficult. In the coming weeks I will be praying to God to help me be more trusting of his provision for me, and to lift all of my worries about future difficulties – that may, and indeed probably will not happen – away from me. I will be praying that God will help me as I strive to ‘seek first his kingdom and his righteousness’. I wonder if you will join me?

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