June 11, 2010

Should Christians be Kosher?
Deuteronomy 10:14-22 (NLT)

Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don't eat the blood. Blood is life; don't eat the life with the meat. 24 Don't eat it; pour it out on the ground like water. 25 Don't eat it; then you'll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in GOD's eyes. Deuteronomy 12:23-25 (MSG)

Pastor’s Blog

The Hebrew word “kosher” means “fit” or “proper”. Eating Kosher means eating in way that is fitting for one who has faith in God. One aspect of Kosher eating is not eating meat from which the blood has not been first drained.

The blood symbolized life (the blood is the life, 12:23). By refraining from eating blood the Israelites demonstrated a respect for life and ultimately for the Creator of life. Also as Leviticus 17:11 indicates, the blood is a ransom price for sins, so blood is sacred and should not be consumed by people.

Although chapter 12 insists that the worship of God take place only at the temple, the New Testament teaches that each believer has him or herself become a sanctuary, a “temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16). Although Christians no longer pour blood at the altar as a sacrifice, and no longer eat “kosher” (the NT declares all food “clean”), nevertheless the New Testament insists that our worship remain pure and that we seek to live our lives in a way that is “fitting” to how we have worshiped.

On the cross, God in Christ, shed his blood (life) so that we can receive life. We act this out during the Lord’s Supper.

Perhaps “Christian Kosher” could mean receiving the sacraments, a reenactment of God’s perfect sacrifice (not mine), and then living in a way that “fits” everything implied in that central practice of the Christian faith.