Further Instructions from the Mount - Pt 4

 

[Jesus said] “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (Matthew 7:6 ESV).

 

With today’s reading we come to a conundrum of a sort. Remember, Jesus just said in the previous five verses of this passage that we are not to judge others. Now He comes and says we are to make a judgment about what we share with people based on our knowledge of them. That requires judgement. So, which is it? Do we judge or not? I’ll have much more to say about that tomorrow, today let’s concentrate on the specifics of this instruction.

 

Jesus does warn against sharing sacred, spiritual truths with people who will not respect or appreciate them and will likely react with hostility. It calls for believers to balance the grace of not being judgmental with the wisdom of discernment in their relationships.

 

Here are the key aspects of this verse to understand:

 

There are some metaphors we need to understand first. In the biblical world, dogs were generally wild, roaming scavengers, and pigs were unclean. Both represent people who aggressively reject God's truth or hold it in utter contempt. These are not the domesticated animals that we are so familiar with today. The sacred things and pearls represent the profound, precious teachings of the gospel and the wisdom of God. The warning is very clear. Because these individuals do not understand the true value of spiritual wisdom, they will discard or mistreat it. He also cautions that these individuals may eventually turn and harm the person who offered them the sacred knowledge.

 

Most of the time I find myself leaning more toward the belief that there aren’t very many “pigs and dogs” that are in my circle of conversation. Because of that I share the gospel with everyone. However, I also filter my conversations with some of the other aspects of the Scripture with some people I know are not amenable to an honest conversation without resorting to attacks and name-calling. Tomorrow we will see how we can better make the decision of who’s who. For now, commit to sharing the gospel with all people.