4th Sunday after Epiphany
1 Corinthians 8:4-13
Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Creator, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist.
It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. “Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But, take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So, by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But, when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.
Family Food
Around the time that I was in high school, my dad decided to stop eating red meat, because his cholesterol was too high. Of course, this didn’t stop the rest of the family from eating red meat, but my poor mother now had to do double duty any time she cooked pork or beef, having to make something special for my dad that he could eat.
After a while, this led to the family eating more and more ground turkey, so my mom wouldn’t have to make separate meals for everyone. Now, I love a roast turkey at Thanksgiving, or Christmas. My dad always makes what we like to call a “barbeque turkey;” he marinates a turkey for a week and then hot smokes for 4 hours. It is, hands down, the best turkey I have ever had, and I compare all other turkeys to my dad’s barbeque turkey. Deep-fried turkey is great; remember when that fad was happening? Sliced turkey breast from the deli counter, turkey sandwiches, love it!
But, I kind of hate ground turkey. It never cooks right, instead of browning it always turns this kind of sad gray color. It has a weird texture, and a lot of times it just kind of tastes like liver. Honestly, I would rather eat almost anything else. But, I guess it’s good for you.
When I was in my late twenties, I discovered that I too needed to stop eating pork. Somehow, I had become allergic to it, and it was causing my joints to swell. It had gotten to the point where I was actually having a hard time walking, and somehow, I remembered a comment that my mother had made about how pork made her shoulder hurt. And, at the time, I couldn’t for the life of me figure how there could possibly be a correlation between pork and her shoulder hurting, but there I was, hobbling around and I finally made the connection. It was only a theory at the time, but I needed to try something, anything to hopefully be able to walk without pain, again. So, I stopped eating pork, which is really, really hard for someone who is half Chinese and half Filipino. But, a few weeks later, the pain in my knees and ankles was gone. And, I also had another minor pain in my own shoulder that I didn’t think was connected to this whole pork situation, but about a month after I stopped eating pork, that pain went away, too.
It’s no wonder to me now that Jewish people consider this dirty, smelly, albeit delicious, animal to be unclean. To this day, there are Jews and Muslims all over the world that won’t eat pork, in accordance with their religious traditions.
Food is one of the pillars of culture. It’s one of the ways that people identify themselves; it reminds them of where they come from and connects them to their ancestors. We give each other food to show that we care, to welcome, to celebrate, to apologize. Different foods mean different things in different cultures. I love talking about how I grew up next door to this huge Mexican family and how we always ate tamales with them at Christmas. My family would always make lumpia, or Filipino egg rolls, and pancit, a Filipino noodle dish, for parties. They’re two of the most iconic Filipino foods, but most people don’t realize that they really only make an appearance for special occasions. Lumpia and pancit are not typical everyday foods.
Deciding what food is okay to eat and not okay to eat is something that people have always had to contend with, and those choices, over time, became part of the different cultures of our ancestors. It makes sense that we stay away from unfamiliar foods; we don’t know if those foods will hurt us. Whether the reason is religious, cultural, medical, or personal, most people have a hard time with at least some types of foods.
It actually comes up a lot in the Bible. In our epistle reading today, there’s an argument about whether or not it’s okay to eat food that’s been offered to idols. The teaching was that the only God who matters is the one God, our Creator through whom everything else was created. The food that was offered to idols doesn’t become tainted, because those idols don’t actually have any real effect on the food. But, there were still some who thought that eating food that had been offered to idols was wrong, and they thought that they would themselves become tainted by eating the tainted food.
But, Paul doesn’t tell his readers to convince those people that they’re wrong. He tells them to respect the other people’s beliefs, and to not do anything that might shake their faith. What people eat isn’t important, what matters is their faith in God. What matters is that people honor each other, and try to help each other grow in their faith, to trust each other and to trust in God.
I remember hearing this story about a man who had decided to become a vegetarian. Family gatherings became uncomfortable, his family just could not understand why he was rejecting their food and rejecting their heritage. Why he was rejecting his family. They couldn’t separate who they were from their food. As the years went by, he showed them how he could be vegetarian and still be part of the family, by making vegetarian versions of their family dishes. He wasn’t trying to change them, he was showing them that even though he was different now, in all of the ways that mattered, he was still the same. Over time, his family started to understand that he was still a part of the family, even if his food was a little different.
My dad never tried to get us to stop eating red meat just because he did. In fact, he would very often grill up huge platters of steak or ribs, and present the sizzling piles of red meat to us with a proud grin on his face. He loves cooking for us, even if it means he’s cooking food that he cannot eat. Though, full disclosure, now that he’s older, he doesn’t care as much, and he pretty much eats whatever he wants.
Family isn’t about the rules that we impose on each other. It’s not about what we eat and what we don’t eat, even if sometimes we think that it is. Family is how we show our love for each other, how we take care of each other. Family is understanding that even though we might be different, in all of the ways that matter, we’re still the same. Being a part of a community means that even if we don’t think of things and do things in the same, we still respect each other and make sure that we don’t do anything to hurt each other.
Ground turkey was never my favorite, but I always ate it, because I love my dad. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
