Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces

 

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.  Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.  

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 7:1-12 

 

We are currently reading through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5 -7).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they either toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore, do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

"Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  My study Bible comments that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  In modern terms, this is frequently called "projection."  My study Bible adds that we ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The second part of this verse is found in Mark 4:24 and in Luke 6:38, each in a different context, as Christ no doubt repeated this particular message many times.  Let us note also how this teaching ties in with His teaching on the practice of mercy and forgiveness elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:7, 6:14-15).

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  While Jesus' teaching here exemplifies what He has just taught about judgment, and applies in general to our behavior, we may also look at this in the context of discipleship.  Correction is part of discipleship, and mutual correction is a teaching Christ has given to the Church in Matthew 18:15-35 (at the end of which, He repeats His warning about forgiving trespasses found in Matthew 6:14-15).  In that context of mutual correction and discipleship, it is important also to apply what Christ is saying here.  Only with our own experience of correction and growth could we successfully advise another, and with the proper understanding.  The very word in Greek for disciple means "learner," and we must remember that in this context.  Any way we look at it, we see that correction and growth within ourselves (in other words, learning) is the great thing necessary as disciples, and even as potential teachers or help to others who are brothers (and sisters) in the Church.

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue in the context of Christ's time and place (and audience).  According to the patristic writers, "dogs" are those who are so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, which include Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things, my study Bible explains, are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  Rather, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt (see also Luke 23:8-9, in which Jesus did not answer the questions of Herod Antipas).  If we view this verse in the context with the verses above it, we see also that one's "pearls" can also be teaching resulting from the work and spiritual growth of discipleship and personal correction, hard-gained through experience, which would be appropriate to those who truly desire discipleship, but a stark warning about those who do not.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."  My study Bible points out to us that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives:  "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  Note the synergy:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  It says that we ask in prayer; seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.

 

"Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  My study Bible comments that people are called evil not to condemn the whole race of human beings, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (that is, our goodness is also mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  It notes that if imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, all the more will God work perfect good.

 

"Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  This "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets and it is a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  My study Bible describes it as a first step in spiritual growth.  The negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was well known in Judaism.  Jesus' form is positive, as with so many of His "proactive" teachings:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God. 

 

We note how the "Golden Rule" -- "Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" -- gives us a summing up and echo of so many of Jesus' teachings on mercy, on forgiveness, on judgment (as in the first verse in today's reading).  As we noted above, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus applies this teaching explicitly to mercy (Matthew 5:7), to forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15), and in today's reading, to judgment (see today's first and second verses:  "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you").   All together, and in varied passages cited by my study Bible in notes on today's reading, Jesus will teach the same thing many times.  But we can see clearly the link between mercy, forgiveness, and good judgment (or, as in today's reading, refraining from bad judgment).  In John 7:24, this teaching becomes more explicit:  "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  In today's reading, the patristic exegetes remind us that what we so often judge in others are flaws we have in ourselves, and we're reminded that St. Paul explicitly says the same thing in Romans 2:1, where he really spells it out:  "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."   Taken altogether, as a whole these statements remind us about discipleship: that it's all about learning, discipline, correction, and growth.  That is, the whole of discipleship is learning to identify and remove that plank that is in our own eye, otherwise we can't really be truly helpful to others.  We'll just continue to project that plank in ourselves (to which we're blind) onto others.  We see this so often in public life that I feel I don't have to point out examples for any reader to know what I'm talking about.  In the context of Christ's clear instructions regarding discipleship under Him, such behavior is a sign of clear immaturity, and in particular, a complete lack of spiritual discipline and experience in that discipline.  The true disciple is not a hypocrite, but rather one who knows and undertakes to grow in spiritual discipline, in self-awareness, and in the correction of one's own flaws.  That true disciple is also one who is aware that as we judge others, so we are judged ourselves.  In action, this deeply implies the practice of the Golden Rule:  "Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  In Luke 6:31, in the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus phrases it this way:  "And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise."  Let us note that if our true desire is for discipleship and growth in Christ's model, with Himself as the life in which we seek to participate, finding our own image in Him, then what we want (a merciful judgment, a lifetime of learning and growth, the good things of God, and good teachings which help us to be corrected in love) is the gift of discipleship.  In that context, this is what we may also seek to offer to others when we profess His teachings.  In this context, however, we must also take to heart as true counsel what He says, not to share our pearls with those who have no use for them, cannot value them, and do not desire them, " lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  Those things that are precious pearls, the things that are holy, in Christ's words, are for those who desire to enter into discipleship, who are willing to take on the mantle of learning and growth and loving correction, and as we know from the whole of His teaching and the lives of the apostles and saints uncountable, this naturally includes a willingness to sacrifice and serve in order to fulfill the image in Christ He offers to us -- for the "hand" or "eye" we're asked to separate from ourselves (Matthew 5:29-30) is the flaw that keeps the whole of us from that growth in discipleship.  These all refer to aspects of selfishness or self-centeredness, a spiritual immaturity, that which is not compatible with the things that are holy, the fire of God's mercy and grace.  In all, He offers us a better life, a true focus, a way to go forward in which there is always the work to do which is right in front of us, as He seeks for us to become more like Him, "like God" (Genesis 1:26).  Let us hastily note that Jesus did not suffer fools gladly, and nor did He tolerate hypocrites.  He told the truth, and gave "what for what" when it was necessary.  But always this was in the context of His mission, of what He had to accomplish.  And He invites each of us in to take up that mission, to do what is necessary, to find the big things within us that we're blind to and make correction, to grow in His love and teachings, to challenge our own hypocrisy, and to pay attention to what is our business -- in this sense, it extends to forgetting about the "dogs" and "swine" who have no use for the things that are holy and the pearls of God's beauty, truth, and goodness.  Let us seek to practice what He teaches.