While out for my daily walk today, I passed a wheat field that had just been harvested. I gleaned one corner of the field, obtaining a single stalk of fully ripened grain. As I walked along, I removed the head of grain and began winnowing the wheat from the chaff with my unwashed fingers. This must be a learned skill, I found it very difficult to separate grain from husks with fingers and brief puffs of breath. I did my best.
I ended up with a few kernels of grain mixed with recalcitrant chaff that just refused to leave. The mixture was unpleasant to eat and I spewed as much chaff as possible before swallowing my little snack.
Of course, my mind visited the passage in Matthew when our Savior was chastised by religious synagogue authorities because his talmidim did the same thing with unwashed hands. The issue wasn’t about unwashed hands, it certainly wasn’t about prohibited food. It was about man-made church doctrine negating the commands of God.
Since the time of Moses, and probably before, God’s people were required to extend every available hospitality to anyone they found traveling by. This included providing food as well as shelter if needed. His people took this responsibility seriously. They even had guidance for travelers helping themselves to a meal from the fields as they passed. They could take and eat what they needed, but could not remove any produce from the field, orchard, or vineyard to consume later. Such an action would have been unthinkable.
Jesus would have none of this asking, “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?”
I went home and had a hamburger.
I ended up with a few kernels of grain mixed with recalcitrant chaff that just refused to leave. The mixture was unpleasant to eat and I spewed as much chaff as possible before swallowing my little snack.
Of course, my mind visited the passage in Matthew when our Savior was chastised by religious synagogue authorities because his talmidim did the same thing with unwashed hands. The issue wasn’t about unwashed hands, it certainly wasn’t about prohibited food. It was about man-made church doctrine negating the commands of God.
Since the time of Moses, and probably before, God’s people were required to extend every available hospitality to anyone they found traveling by. This included providing food as well as shelter if needed. His people took this responsibility seriously. They even had guidance for travelers helping themselves to a meal from the fields as they passed. They could take and eat what they needed, but could not remove any produce from the field, orchard, or vineyard to consume later. Such an action would have been unthinkable.
Jesus would have none of this asking, “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?”
I went home and had a hamburger.
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