Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

Was Jesus a vegetarian?

"Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No." (John 21:5, AV)

This is not a flippant article for there are millions of Christian vegetarians in the world but nonetheless I will examine it Scripturally and ethically, in so far as one can. I have taken John 21 as a theme for it follows after the resurrection and the word rendered 'meat' is interesting in its own right.

The AV speaks of 'meat', the NIV of 'fish', the NKJV of 'food' and the ASV of the less than tempting 'aught'. The word προσφαγιον prosphagion (Strong's #4371) is only used once in the NT, and not at all in the Greek Septuagint of the OT. Outside the NT it used as almost any accompaniment to bread, such as a relish, here by the context it probably refers to fish.

In the John 21 story Jesus commands them to trawl their empty nets on the other side of the boat and they haul in 153 large fish. Jesus promptly invites them to fry the fish and he serves up bread and fish for breakfast. In a similar narrative in Luke 24:41, 42 Jesus again asks for 'meat' (AV), a different word and another sole NT usage and again better translated as 'food', when the AV was first circulated meat had a very broad meaning. On this occasion he is offered fish and he eats it.

So meat can mean fish or even relish.

What about Jesus' eating of the Passover lamb, surely that shows he was a meat-eater?

"On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"" (Mark 14:12, NIV)

Yet if you read the AV there is no mention of the lamb and in the NKJV it is italicised. In fact, if you read the New Testament you won't see mention of the Passover lamb itself in the original Greek or a literal version such as the NKJV, other than references to 'the lamb of God'. But the context of Mark 14 clearly talks of sacrifice and the word Passover in Judaism had come to stand for the very lamb itself. Although, curiously in the Pesach meal become Communion it is the bread and wine that is emphasised and the lamb forgotten, perhaps because the lamb is symbolically Jesus himself and bread is eaten en lieu of his body.

Vegetarian bodies say that "sources, ancient and contemporary, portray Jesus as vegetarian"^F1. In the feeding of the 5000 and 4000 Jesus multiplies and eats fish, so he was no vegan; nor was he a teetotaller for he miraculously created good vintage wine and drank it at Passover. He even merited the terms 'winebibber' and 'glutton' from those who observed his regular attendance at dinner parties (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34) and they didn't refrain from commenting upon the company he kept too.

Maybe it was an undeserved reputation and Jesus kept to fish. But according to a report in yesterday's (30 April 2003) London Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers, even fish feel pain. Yet had not Isaiah (11:6-7) prophesied an end to nature's vicious cycle, its "red in tooth and claw" nature, as Tennyson dubbed it. Paul spoke of creation's corruption and it's groans as it awaited "the revealing of the sons of God" (Romans 8:19-22). Had not the Garden of Eden been vegetarian - was not Adam commanded to till and not to kill? Although, mark where a healthy fruit diet got Adam and Eve!

The Christian Vegetarian Association says that "The Bible depicts vegetarianism as God's ideal"^F2. It is commonly believed by many creationists that meat eating was not endorsed until after the flood (Genesis 9:2,4) when fresh crops and fruit would have been all but destroyed whilst breeding animals disembarked on dry land from day one.

It could be that with the end of temple sacrifices animals needed no longer to be slain. So why the debate in Acts 15 over, amongst other things, what could be eaten? Peter had already received his vision in Acts 10:11-16 commanding him to "kill and eat" of all kinds of animals including pork and creeping things, previously forbidden. So rather than encourage vegetarianism the Spirit extends meat eating to all animals.

Paul confirms this in rather shocking terms in Romans 14:1-4 when he terms some believers 'weak' and calls them not to judge each other over what they eat or even concerning the days they observe.

"For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables." (Romans 14:2)

Paul may be referring here to the Essenes or even the Greek Pythagoreans who would not eat animals. Some of the later church leaders are said to have been vegetarians including: Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Origen, and Clement of Alexandria.

Whilst the new earth may promise that the wolf and lamb, lion and ox, may cohabit peacefully and chew on straw. It is not here yet. Though neither are we to judge any choices people make here and now, to eat or not to eat. Nonetheless the ethical treatment of animals is a strong principle in Judaism (Exodus 23:5; Deuteronomy 22:6,7; 25:4) and the laws of the Sabbath were allowed to be broken to rescue an animal in trouble.

"Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?..." (Matthew 12:11-12)

Equality is somewhat of a myth, and, sentimentality is not the same as spirituality. In another allusion Jesus tells us how valued is even a sparrow to God (Matthew 10:29-31) and yet He considers our needs and worth even more highly.

FOOTNOTES:
F1: http://www.christianveg.com/wwje.htm
F2: http://www.christianveg.com/wwje.htm

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