Perspective: Why Would a Pig Need Pearls?

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Why Would a Pig Need Pearls?

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7 (NRSV)

He said, "Freely, freely, you have received

Freely, freely, give"

From "Freely, Freely" by Carol Owens

As I've noted previously, the Sermon on the Mount touches on many different aspects of life.  Toward the end of the sermon, Jesus says something rather strange:
Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.¹

To some extent, the meaning of these words is straightforward.  Pearls and holy things both have great value.  Pearls are valuable because they are rare, and things considered holy are valuable because they have been consecrated or set apart for God.  Animals such as dogs and pigs do not have the capacity to appreciate something's worth.  Basically, Jesus is warning us not to give something precious to someone who cannot - or will not - appreciate its intrinsic, sentimental, or sacred value.

But why does Jesus say that the so-called "pigs" will trample on the pearls and then maul the giver of the gift?

Several years ago, I listened to a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount by Rob Bell and a number of other preachers.²  If I learned anything from Bell about the Sermon on the Mount, I learned how important it is to pay attention to the structure of the sermon.

Bell notes that, throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to live without anxiety.³  Jesus teaches us not to worry about the basic necessities of life, but to instead trust in the God who provides for the birds and the flowers.⁴  When Jesus teaches us how we should pray, He invites us to place our whole lives - our needs in the present, our regrets from the past, and our anxiety about the future - into God's hands.^{5 6}  When we entrust our lives to God, we are better able to follow Jesus' instructions to practice piety without regard to what others think of us, to focus on eternal matters as opposed to temporal matters, and to live generously.⁷

Bell suggests that, once we have entrusted ourselves to God, we must also entrust the other people in our lives to God; otherwise, we might feel the need to take matters into our own hands by trying to manipulate them into doing what we think they should do.  One might try to manipulate another person through negative means like shame and condemnation.⁸  On this matter, Jesus teaches us not to judge other people, but to tend to the proverbial logs in our own eyes before concerning ourselves with the specks in other people's eyes.⁹

One might also try to manipulate another person through positive means.  For example, a person might try to do something good for somebody, hoping that he or she will feel obligated to do something in return.  Bell suggests that this is one way a person might throw his or her pearls before swine, so to speak.  If you have ever tried to do something good for a person only to be met with hostility, he might have smelled a hidden agenda.¹⁰  People have a way of knowing when other people are being fake.  Furthermore, if you have ever felt resentful that another person has not done for you as much as you have done for her, you might have had ulterior motives.

It is important that we consider why we do what we do for others.  I think that we often give out of a sense of reciprocity: either we do undo others as others have done unto us, or we do unto others as we hope others will do unto us.  Jesus speaks out against reciprocity, arguing that we should do things not for the people who can pay us back, but for the people who cannot pay us back.  For example, in the Gospel of Luke, He says,
When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.¹¹

The truth is that a gift that is given with strings attached is not a gift at all.  When we give, we should give out of a sense of grace.  Grace is a gift that cannot be repaid and should not be repaid.  St. Paul, in in one of his letters, encourages his readers to contribute to a fund for people in need, saying, "Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

If someone does something good for you and you feel compelled to do something in response, consider paying it forward.  In other words, don't try to repay the person who did something for you, but rather do something for a third person, specifically someone in need who has not done anything for you.  This mode of giving respects the original gift as an act of grace, and it extends grace to someone else.

When you give to someone, do not give out of a sense of obligation.  Do not give in order to get something in return.  Give only because you genuinely want someone to experience a blessing.  May we learn to give for all the right reasons.


Notes:

1. Matthew 7:6 (NRSV)
2. https://marshill.org/shop/sermon-on-the-mount-series/
3. Rob Bell.  "Judging."  Mars Hill Bible Church podcast, 01/10/2010.
4. Matthew 6:25-34
5. Matthew 6:11-13
6. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume One.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 229
7. Matthew 6:1-24
8. Bell, "Judging"
9. Matthew 7:1-5
10. Bell, "Judging"
11. Luke 14:12-13 (NRSV)

The photograph featured in this perspective is of unknown origin.  It is assumed to be public domain.