As much as we work to understand and explain what Jesus said, we need to be honest: sometimes he wasn’t clear.

At times his obfuscation, his ambiguity was purposeful. He even says that he is speaking obscurely at times. However, in the middle of a fairly clear sermon, when he seems to be trying to be clear, he says this:

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”

We read it and say, “What?!”

He just talked about not judging. He just talked about taking the baseball bat out of your own eye before worrying about the splinter in someone else’s eye. And then he calls people dogs and hogs.

That seems pretty judgmental to me.

I’m pretty sure that the argument, “Jesus can say that because he knows people” doesn’t apply. He’s telling us to identify them.

What is likely, according to commentators, is that Jesus is offering a cautionary note to his judgment words. While we are not to be quick to judge, we have to acknowledge that some people are intentionally destructive. They choose to wreck good stuff, to destroy, to bully, to trample.

Be careful, he says, what you give to destructive people.

But what does that mean? Does it mean not to give too much time to people who are more interested in consuming that conversing? Does it mean don’t give leadership to those who will use it to wreck? Does it mean not to give clear explanations of the gospel to those who use it to destroy?

For me, one day, it meant telling a man named Harold to leave the church grounds. He was trampling people.

No questions asked.

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From Learning a new routine. Reading the Sermon on the Mount a little bit at a time 

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Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Tanya McGrath about Learning a New Routine. It was a great conversation and I’m grateful for her work. Here’s Part One and Part Two.