From the Mouth of God
Too many Christians believe that God no longer cares what we eat. The belief goes that there were many laws in the Old Covenant governing the food choices of Israel, but that the sacrifice of Jesus has nailed to the Cross any consideration of what we take into our bodies. A thoughtful examination of the sacred texts intimates that, not only does God care how his children are nourished, but our own stewardship of food is central to the purpose he has given us. Not only do the Mosaic prescriptions of clean and unclean evidence God’s sovereignty over diet, but the witness of the Apostles invites us to share more perfectly in his sovereignty as his adopted heirs in Jesus Christ.
The biblical Council of Jerusalem, for example, far from dismissing the covenantal strictures of Moses, indeed improves upon them by declaring authoritatively the heart of the law. The Apostles, moved by the Holy Spirit in shepherding the incipient Church, led the faithful to a new discipline that reflects what Moses could only dimly envisage, which is purity in thought, word, and deed: “abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity" (Acts 15:29b). At a later date, when writing to the Church in Corinth, St. Paul expresses a development in this discipline:
…as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one." For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through being hitherto accustomed to idols, eat food as really offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall. (1 Cor. 8:4b-13)
A cursory reading of this passage has led a great number of Christians to feel that diet no longer matters; in reality, St. Paul amplifies the decree of the Jerusalem Council: our food, as all areas of our life, should be directed to our relationship with God and the salvation of our brethren. Our “liberty” should lead us to mature stewardship of creation and faithful decisions in daily life. Of course all food is made clean for us (cf. Acts 10: 9ff; Mk 7:17-19), but, as St. Paul says later in his first letter to the Corinthians, “’All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful”(10:23a). Is the current American diet helpful in our walk with God? Does the factory farming model befit our Christian vocation? Does what we eat exemplify the dignity and Apostolic agency given to the body of believers? Most evidence resounds in the negative.
The Mouth of God declares
we must be stewards of our wares,
even when it comes to dinners--
where we're often sinners.
