1 Kings 10:1-10 / Mark 7:14-23
The Chinese New Year festival is approaching soon. In true Chinese tradition, one of the main highlights is the delicious food.
From the Reunion dinner onwards, there will be food and food and more food.
Yes, delicious, sumptuous, and "sinful" foods like bak-kua, roasted cashew nuts, pineapple tarts, love-letters, etc.
But we know that those type of foods, consumed in that kind of combination, and consumed in abundance, will give us the following effects : sore-throat, cough, indigestion and a bloated feeling.
The Chinese have a particular way of looking at food. Food is viewed as medicine. It can do good for the body when taken in various combinations.
But certain foods taken in a wrong combination can actually harm the body.
Many religions have dietary laws. Some foods are forbidden because when they are not cooked or properly preserved, they could cause health problems which in turn also affects the spiritual health.
Over time, such forbidden foods became part of the religious culture and they also took on the meaning of spiritual purity.
So we can imagine the reaction of the people when Jesus, with one breath, implicitly proclaimed that all foods are clean.
Yet for all the possible reaction, the message may not have been understood. What Jesus was saying is that foods can give us strength and health, but it cannot give us wisdom and purity.
In the 1st reading, the queen of Sheba was greatly impressed by the splendor and the wisdom of King Solomon.
Nonetheless, she also saw beyond the externals and acknowledged that it was the God of Israel who had abundantly blessed King Solomon.
Similarly, we give thanks to God for the blessings for the abundance and sumptuous food and the other basic necessities as well as other luxuries.
But we must be careful not to take all these for granted. Only with a thankful and grateful heart can we truly appreciate and give thanks to God for His blessings.
Because a thankful and grateful person is truly a wise and holy person.