Redemption Bacon



Luke 15:15

And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.


Ah, the smell of bacon is wafting through the air of my house. Above are the strip of glory, marinating in their fat juices. It is all I can do to restrain myself and not eat it all at once. I am planning some BLT's today, so I must resist. Actually, I will be using spinach rather than lettuce. Iceberg lettuce is useless food. Good for nothing besides sandwich spacer; no taste and nutrition. So, it shall be BST, a healthier choice on sprouted grain bread. Be wary of modern wheat. Genetic freak food.  I have a homegrown luscious tomato ready to give up itself to the cause.    

When I consider bacon, the first story of the Bible that comes to me is the "Lost Son" known more commonly as the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). This lost son was as low as a Jew could go. Working for a Gentile herding pigs. A one-two groin shot of utter humiliation. Add to this that he is the pigs' servant. We know he is working for a non-Jew because no observant Jew would raise pigs. Kind of like a Muslim man working in gross bar serving up whiskey shots to drunkards. Somehow we lose the power of these stories because we fail to grasp the cultural and historical context. This is as bad as it could get for a Jew.  

The dietary laws of the Old Testament confuse me...how is it wrong then to eat unclean animals but then OK in the coming of Jesus? I have concluded it is not about the food any more then it is about Eve and the fruit. It is what the food symbolized which is the issue, not the food itself. Pigs symbolized the pagan world. Luke takes particular relish, as a Gentile, in sharing stories of Jesus that puts Gentiles on equal footing with Jews. We are in the pig pen with the crap. Face it. Smell it. At least in our hearts, which is the only place that really matters. The other Gospel writers, tend to steer away from such parables. Luke lets it all hang out. The Good Samaritan, same deal. He is the only one who bring this up.  

I know that bacon is bad for me health-wise but it is good for my soul. The other day I bought some organic salami. It sounds like a contradiction: Free range pigs? With all of the nitrites in cured meats, organic pork comes at a steep price. Every slice is precious in my sight. So, I buy the regular non-organic bacon and eat it only once in a while. While it is definitely the case that we Americans need to be more circumspect about what we eat, it is possible to go too far the other way. Take the joy out of eating by never eating something for enjoyment but only for nutrition and sustenance. That seems profoundly anti-biblical.

Don't touch, don't eat. Works righteousness, no grace. Bacon has been redeemed by the Lord. Take and eat.





   

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