We are well aware that the Jews followed laws that said some foods were unclean like fish without scale, shellfish pork and there was a kosher way of eating. So meat is never eaten with dairy products in the same meal, And utensil used to prepare these must be kept separate. There is another group Pareve: (pa-re-va) which is any food that is not meat or dairy, including fish, eggs, and plant-based foods and these can be eaten with meat or dairy. However, if you use the meat utensils to prepare pareve foods they become meat. And If you use diary utensils to prepare them they become dairy.
Jesus says that all foods are clean. Jesus is also saying that we, many times focus on the wrong things. What matters, he says, is the heart. Our outlook on life, our moods, our thoughts, the kind of goals that is important to us and how we decide to achieve these. Do we put down others in order to look good? Our attitudes, choices, knowledge and intentions must be kept clean too. What is the state of our conscience? Do we have one? The heart utensils then are what we must use to prepare our thoughts and deeds. These thoughts and deeds must be separated from those used by others. Only Christlike utensils are to be used in preparing our actions.
Our Christian faith is based on our love of God and God's love for us. What we do and say should reflect that relationship. Thus our attitude. Our heart attitude as I like to call it is cultivated from that. I use cultivate because it is something that we need to nurture, water fertilize like our favourite plant. We need to spend time with it like those persons who have to shine their car, or the hours we spend on our various gadgets. Our heart attitude or Christlike utensils determines not necessarily what we do in life but how we do what we do. It doesn’t make us weak or prevents us from participating in the activities of community life, but how we participate is different. Our approach to life then has to be one of love. tolerance for others, putting ourselves in the shoes of others, making less judgmental calls, recognizing and acknowledging that we all have biases, things we don't like and they affect our relationships. Knowing one's biases helps us to have better relationships. It allows us to love despite other negative factors. We in Jamaica say hate the sin but not the sinner. That is not an easy ask. It is one that comes from being an intentional disciple, taking God and how we live life seriously. Seeking a closer walk with God, leaning on him always, placing your feet in the path of Jesus and your gaze fixed on him. Striving to act Christlike. Striving always to act from a position of love. Being Christlike is by no means being self-righteous or behaving as if things revolve around you, but understanding that you are least in the scheme of things - a mere cog in a wheel of gears, and it is God that things revolve around. Being Christlike means paying attention to how we make others feel, treating others with dignity, tending the poor, sick and lonely. Giving these persons a place in our lives. Paying attention to them. That is what Jesus did and what we are to do. Give to all a sense of worth. The genesis 2:19 using the Voice translation helps us with that. It says “So out of the same ground the man was made from, the Eternal God sculpted every sort of animal and every kind of bird that flies up in the sky.” All life comes from the same place the dust which God blew breath into. We are all the same and thus deserving of the same life, same opportunities in life and the same love. Let us as Christians know who we are and always use our Christlike utensils to decide how we behave.