The Holy Great-Martyr Procopius (303)
1 Corinthians 7:24-35; Matthew 15:12-21
Read Matthew 15:12-21
Today’s teaching was very difficult for the Jews to accept. Most likely even the apostles had a hard time understanding what the Lord’s teaching was all about. He was challenging the food laws given to the Jews by Moses, which over time had become part of their identity. God instructed Moses that certain foods were clean and others were considered unclean. Why is this the case? God created everything as good. In the garden of Eden Adam and Eve were blessed to eat of the fruit of the trees (Gen 2:16) and Noah was then blessed to eat the animals (Gen 9:3). It was only at Mount Sinai after the Hebrew people made a golden calf and bowed down to it that God enacted dietary restrictions.
There were several reasons for these restrictions. The food laws were given to them in order to separate them from the nations, so as to keep them from mingling with the Gentiles. St. John Chrysostom says, “for since they were overly concerned with eating and drinking, these people (the Hebrews) began to overlook God’s precepts… Those necessary things were forbidden by the Lord, so that with the best food having been denied and their immoderate appetites mortified, the people might abide more easily by the disciplines of divine observance.” (Tractate on Matthew CCL 9a:463-64). We can also add that food restrictions were given to them to remind them of their apostasy when they bowed down to a creature, which God created to be food for the human race. Ultimately, the purpose of the food laws was to keep the Hebrews focused on God and His Law.
Christ’s coming supersedes the food restrictions because our apostasy is forgiven through the cross. He is our justification and our way to God the Father. Jesus becomes our highest food and drink in the Holy Eucharist through which we unite ourselves with him and are nourished by him. And we are no longer meant to separate ourselves from the nations, but rather to go to all the nations and preach to them the Good News. Finally, the Lord wants us to focus on the most important form of purity and that is of the heart. Those with a pure heart will not only, “see God…” (Matt 5:8), but also have Him reside in it.