“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them underfoot and turn and maul you” (Matthew 7:6).
The metaphor of throwing pearls before swine or holy things before dogs was Jesus’s way of warning his disciples against imposing certain Gospel values upon the world at large. You see, some of Jesus’ teachings that Christians honor and hold dear make absolutely no sense to the general public. They may be good people and many of them are in fact, but the pearls of wisdom that animate the Christian life are not so widely accepted or believed by society-at-large.
When Jesus told his followers to “turn the other cheek” or to “pray for those who offend you” or to “Love your enemy” he was providing a kind of wisdom understood only by those who follow and are committed to the Way (the designator for those who followed Jesus before they became known as “Christians”). Can you imagine Jesus offering these pearls of wisdom at a Pentagon war briefing?
So here is what I think Jesus is saying by using this metaphor: There are those teachings of Jesus that contain pearls of wisdom intended specifically for his followers rather than for the world-at-large. It would be awesome if the world at large accepted these pearls of wisdom, but the hard truth is, it most often does not.
There are certain values of the Gospel that are intended to be life strategies for his followers. Casting such pearls of wisdom before those who do not share the same Gospel values would be a foolish exercise in futility.
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