Pushing Pearls on Pigs

Matthew 7:6

This verse is not about identifying (condemning) the dogs and pigs in your life and withholding good things (like the gospel) from them. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom pearl to dogs (fools) and pigs (unclean) like us. Jesus mocks our attempts to “help” those we are judging and condemning. Pigs don’t need pearls. Dogs can’t eat holy artifacts. In context, having released anger and contempt, anxiety and worry, the Righteous Life is able to release control and stop “fixing” everyone around them. It isn’t helpful. It isn’t fruitful. Instead (previewing next week), the primary way of relating in the Kingdom is the Ask.

Merit Raises

Last month my company gave me a whole chunk of money, budget for the year, to give raises to my team. I mean… it seemed like a big chunk, but split across 12 people… not so much. And they call it “merit increase”… so here was my task:

Work through the list of folks, decide who got big raises, who got small raises and who got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

That’s “judgment” isn’t it? Hopefully not condemnation… but some measure of discernment, using my best judgment, and deciding who gets treasure.

So, here’s a possible plan. Divide the group into three buckets. Dogs, pigs and humans. Humans get big raises, lots of treasure. Pigs get small raises. Dogs get NOTHING!

Pig Dogs and Holy Pearls

Matthew 7:6 ESV

6 “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.

Classic Interpretation

And so here is the classical interpretation of this verse.

The “treasure” is the Kingdom or the gospel. Leaning on Jesus’ later parable about the “pearl of great price.”

Dogs and Swine are people who have rejected the gospel, perhaps scorned it in some way. Something worse than just “no.”

And we aren’t to offer the gospel to them anymore, because the gospel is holy and sacred and incredibly, impossibly valuable.

The example is used of Jesus commanding the disciples to “shake the dust from their sandals” (Matt 10:14).

Dogs and swine are those who, after the gospel has been duly preached to them, retain their vicious, filthy nature. All such the disciples are, indeed, to judge and account as what they are.

Richard C. H. Lenski

Jesus’ point is that certain truths and blessings of our faith are not to be shared with people who are totally antagonistic to the things of God.... This is to be done in respect for what is holy, not merely out of contempt for the dogs and swine.

John F. MacArthur

Oof. Those words: not “merely out of contempt for dogs and swine.”

But… there is contempt for the dogs and swine?

Can that be right?

Counter

On this interpretation, it seems our duty to judge, to identify “dogs and swine” from the rest of the folks… and make sure we don’t give them “treasure” (which is usually the gospel).

That doesn’t sound right to me. It doesn’t sit right. I was blessed to have the extra week just to study and ponder this. Dogs and Pigs.

How many stories have we heard of someone who absolutely and vilely scorned the gospel one day… rescued and redeemed by our Savior?

And, weren’t we “dogs” and “swine” when Jesus came to save sinners like us? Unclean, savage, every kind of evil? Jesus’ incarnation would certainly be a case of “pearls before swine” in most interpretations of this verse.

Anyone you could use as an example of “I won’t share the gospel or the ‘good stuff’ with so and so because they are swine… imagine the story where the gospel is shared with them and they repent and come to Jesus. Is that a celebration or what?

So… what’s happening here?

Dogs in Scripture and Culture

Who are the dogs and pigs? Even in the “classical interpretation” people can’t agree.

Some see them as Christians who don’t actually follow Jesus as Lord. Others as blasphemers against the Spirit. Others who “scorn” the gospel.

Who are these dogs?

Dogs are wild and savage, they will eat anything, and are usually used as a sign of wildness and wickedness. Synonymous with evildoers, or a fool.

You can see here this huge savage black dog (Vin) eating this small fluffy dog (Chewie).

But actual wild dogs are vicious and terrifying creatures. Or stupid and gross.

Proverbs 26:11 ESV

11 Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

Delightful. Also… we’ve all seen that dog.

Does any culture use “dog” as a positive? “What’s up, dog.” That’s the closest I could find. But even that started as sarcastic, rescuing a slur and turning it into a word of affection.

Jesus does use this “dog” metaphor one other place.

Matthew 15:25–28 (ESV)

25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Jesus is sent first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. That’s true.

I do wonder if Jesus is defusing his audience here, speaking their harsh words in order to demonstrate the woman’s faith on purpose, setting the stage for the gospel movement to the Gentiles.

This whole section includes prohibiting the disciples from going to Samaritans or Gentiles… aren’t you thankful that isn’t the case anymore? Jesus explicitly sends his disciples once and for all after this into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

So… I sure hope Jesus doesn’t refer to us as dogs. What about pigs?

Pigs in Scripture and Culture

Pigs are a ritually unclean animal… and an actually unclean animal. Pigs will literally eat anything, which is why they say “never trust a pig farmer.” They’ll eat a human body.

I remember a story as a kid them finding human DNA in a pig and tracing it back to the pig farmer.

No wonder God forbid them in the Civil law to Israel, without careful monitoring and cooking they are incredibly unsafe and unclean to eat.

This is a sign of shame for the “Prodigal Son,” that he is reduced to feeding the pigs.

So… dogs and pigs. They are people.

They are people who are either rightly (objectively) or subjectively condemned as “dogs and pigs.”

These are ABSOLUTELY words of condemnation.

“El Guapo, They called us scum-sucking pigs. Us!”

Holy Pearls

What is the treasure?

It isn’t crazy to think it’s the gospel, or the treasures in heaven (the immediate referent in the verses before). All of those are also in play when helping your brother with the “speck” in their eye.

Holy treasure, the righteous life Jesus is describing all throughout here is all part of it.

The other immediate precedent is the “help for your brothers eye” which we all associate with helping “fix” your brother’s sin or mistake. He’s being dumb… let me help.

I think it’s any of these, all of these. Is it holy? Is it good? Is it precious? That’s what Jesus is talking about. He doesn’t limit it.

But here’s the key.

Location, Location, Location

Context, Context, Context

Look at these verse in immediate connection with each other.

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged...

3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek... knock, and it will be opened to you.

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Here is my interpretive lens for the whole sermon on the mount. It is one sermon, planned and flowing masterfully, from the Master of life. NOT a bunch of disconnected saying.

The whole flow here is about how we treat one another. The primary means of relating to one another in the Kingdom and with others beyond the Kingdom.

Not a bunch of disconnected and disjointed thoughts off the top of Jesus’ head. One sermon, crafted together, making a coherent picture of righteous life and righteous life together.

So… in context of the Sermon on the Mount.

Having let go of anger and contempt, verbal manipulation.

Having treasured wisely, learning true value, true eternal spiritual treasure - eternal souls and above all Christ himself.

Having let go of condemnation, judgment that condemns.

Towards treating everyone “as we would like to be treated....”

Stop pushing pearls on pigs!

So Jesus goes straight from the “log in my eye...” It isn’t just that I have other sin, my judgment and condemnation of you is a log in my eye. I can’t help you with your speck because I can’t even see you!

So, the log is from your perspective.

Now, here comes another metaphor. These aren’t literal dogs and pigs.

These are words of condemnation, paralleling us picking on the speck in our brothers eye. And while these are certainly words of condemnation, the focus is not on how unworthy the pig dogs are… it is on this:

Pigs Don’t Need Pearls

Dogs simply don’t need what is holy.

Pigs don’t need pearls.

We laugh, but that is actually where Jesus focuses.

Matthew 7:6 ESV

6 “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.

It isn’t that you will run out of pearls.

It isn’t that the dogs are not worthy of the holy thing, even.

It is that they don’t need it. They don’t want it.

They aren’t going to do anything helpful with them… in fact they are going to trample them (waste) and turn to attack you (aggression).

The warning is not that you will run out of holy things or pearls… it is that they cannot use them and you will ultimately tick them off and endanger yourself.

Picture, not our pets, but wild starving animals. Day after day you bring them a Bible. They may rip it to pieces sure, but they aren’t getting nutritional value from it. Neither from the Pearl. The most edible thing in the room besides them… is you!

That’s actually far different from the picture of the classic interpretation of this verse. That would say “Try giving folks the gospel, if they reject it, they have revealed themselves to be pig dogs… don’t give them any more holy pearls.”

Now… this may well have application to sharing the gospel, pushing it on someone who doesn’t have their ears open to hear.

That is absolutely an application of this verse.

But nothing Jesus says limits it to that scenario. It is way farther reaching.

Who are the pig dogs? Anyone you look at and think of as a dog. A pig.

If you are judging rightly and they are “pigs”… you are wasting your time giving them “holy pearls” and just going to tick them off.

If you are judging wrongly and they aren’t “pigs”… you are also just going to tick them off. People don’t love getting “treasure” from people who think they are pigs! (Pro tip).

And, see the previous verses, you are a hypocrite who sees fault in others and are blind too and blind because your own judgment and condemnation.

Stop pushing pearls on pigs!

Stop pushing pearls on pigs!

As long as I am pushing “treasure” on them, I am their problem.

This is somewhat inevitable when it is kids, especially very young kids. Parents are their limits, their structure, and we artificially structure their environment so they hit our barriers before hurting themselves.

That diminishes as kids get older… or it’s supposed to. Some parents never change the boundaries, and children, teenagers, end up resenting and maybe even damaging the adult relationship with adult children.

This is the hypocrisy the world mocks Christians for. They see a bunch of sinners pointing fingers and mocking their sin… and then trying to force their idea of “holy treasure” on the rest of the world!

The world doesn’t need to “sin slightly less,” the world needs Jesus!

And Jesus doesn’t push Jesus on sinners… he invites. He asks, “follow me, believe on me.” He seeks the lost lamb. He knocks on the door of our heart.

To really be of help to those nearest… ask. Ask them to change. Help in any way they ask for help in return.

Ask, Seek, Knock

Stop pushing pearls on pigs

Instead, Jesus leads into the principle of the “ask.” “Ask, and it will be given...”

This is not limited to asking the Father, this is a general principle of how human life, human society, generally works.

(More about that next week).

But we must repent of trying to forcefully fix everyone around us.

Who are you trying to fix?

Who are you trying to fix?

What you are trying to do is good, or at least seems good! What you are trying to share may well be incredibly valuable! Holy, even. That’s what Jesus is talking about! We get so wrapped up in how holy and valuable what we are sharing is… we don’t see the damage we may be doing shoving it down someone’s throat! With a tasty side of condemnation!

Who are you trying to fix?

Is it working?

Is that bearing the fruit you hoped it would? Is everyone around you fixed now? Are you fixed? Is that strategy fostering love and joy and peace and all those good things?

Usually it is a source of strife and contempt. You get trampled or they do or everyone does.

As long as I am pushing “treasure” on them, I am their problem.

When I get out of the way, with the “ask, seek, knock” principle… maybe I even become an ally in them getting real help.

This is a command of Jesus to “not push pearls on pigs.”

This is a command of Jesus to “ask, seek, and knock...” just as He Himself asks and seeks and knocks.

But this is not a new burden, a new law for the Christian, it is not replacing one burden of law with another… Like all the commands of Jesus, this is the invitation to life as it actually was created to be.

It is an invitation to Rest. To Abide in Christ. To trust Him.

You don’t have to “fix” everyone or anyone. You don’t even have to “fix” yourself. Rest in the accomplished work of Christ on the Cross.

Rest in the knowledge that He is working in my life, in your friend’s life, in your own life.

So you get to rest from judgment, rest from condemnation, rest from fixing everyone else.

Where there is opportunity to serve, to love, to walk into greater life with God… there is a way provided to us. Ask… Seek… Knock.

Today we repent of our pushing pearls on pigs… maybe repent of thinking of others as dogs and pigs in the first place. We are all unworthy before the throne of God… except that Jesus has invited us into the holy, offered us the pearl of unspeakable value: the Kingdom.

We repent of our pushing pearls on pigs - trying to fix everyone else, force what is “holy” and “worthy” on those who aren’t ready to hear it.

It is an act of Surrender, surrendering our self and our longing to control others, to control circumstances, to make the world in our image.

It is an act of Submission - He is God and I am not.

Not my Will, but Yours be Done.