Commentary: Vulture’s appetite

One of the most amazing birds seen here in the High Desert, especially around February and March, is the vulture – buzzards soaring and circling high overhead, swooping down and rising again with the air currents.

Eventually, some in the flock will venture down for dinner or a midday snack and tear apart the carcass of some unfortunate creature. These birds are majestic in size, but (except to another vulture) ugly when seen up close – especially when one realizes that what they mostly crave is loathsome and repulsive. Vultures, of course, live on stuff that is dead.

Some people are like that, aren’t they? Nothing seems to satisfy them more than what is spiritually dead – sinful, corrupt and immoral. The books and magazines they read; the TV programs and movies they watch; the conversations they share; and the activities they pursue reveal a vulture’s appetite for all that is unclean.

The ancient dietary restrictions of Israel forbade the chosen people from eating anything “unclean.” This term does not refer to physical contamination nor are these religious codes primarily related to one’s health. Sure, these may have been secondary concerns, but the main teaching was about what we might call “ceremonial uncleanness.”

Those who approached God were not to be tainted or polluted in any way. He was holy and pure, so his worshipers were to likewise be separate – even from the dietary practices of the Canaanites living in the promised land.

The extensive list even included “unclean” birds, such as vultures (Lev 11:13). Unlike the carrion feeders, if someone came across the carcass of an animal that may otherwise be eaten, they were not to even “touch” the thing without becoming “unclean” themselves (vs. 39-40).

A telling statement from Jesus gives meaning.

One afternoon, after confronting his hypocritical detractors, he told the multitudes, “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man” (Mark 7:15).

The gospel writer understood this to mean that Jesus was, thus, “purifying all foods” (v. 19; cf. Acts 10:15, 28; Col 2:16, 21-23). Jesus’ emphasis is on the heart, the inner man, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts…and defile a man” (vs. 20-23).

We’ve heard the saying from health experts: “You are what you eat.” Originating in the writings of a 19th-century French dietitian, the phrase was coined in 1942 by nutritionist Victor Lindlahr, in his book, “You Are What You Eat: How to Win and Keep Health with Diet.” The book has gained new energy with the whole foods and organic food movements.

Of course, one should watch what he eats – I mean, duh! Though some of us don’t care about bodies to the degree we should. And there is something greater at stake. It’s not the food we eat, but the thoughts we think, which are defiling.

Foolishly, we may eat healthy food but then dine upon unclean images, dirty jokes and other dead and putrefying entertainments. What kind of food do you prefer? Don't be like the vulture, craving the carcasses of this passing world (1 John 2:15-17). Rather, as “newborn babes,” may we “desire the pure milk of the word, that [we] may grow thereby” (1 Pet 2:2).

How much better is the spiritual diet promoted in Scripture: “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Phil 4:8).

What will you order from today’s menu?

Scriptures to Memorize: Philippians 4:8

Pastor Chandler serves Victor Valley Bible Church, 16439 Hughes Road in Victorville. Services are on Sundays at 10:15 a.m. For more information, visit www.VictorValleyBibleChurch.org, follow the church on Facebook, call 760-243-7690, or email the pastor at bibletrom@gmail.com.