Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Do we recognize the pearls of great price that we have been given? Do we treasure them with our attention and affection? Or do we trample them with our lukewarmness and indifference? We have been given very great and precious promises (se Second Peter 1:3-5). If we relate to them as just one more interest in a life full of diverse pursuits we risk missing their innate value in such a way that we might lose them. Let us instead recognize more and more the value of what we have received. It is in this same sense that we will offer it to others. To those who genuinely see the value we can offer our pearls. We ought not put those who are disposed with disinterest or hostility in a position of risk where they might respond by trampling sacred things, and then attacking us. This doesn't mean there are really dogs who can't recognize the Gospel. It means that sometimes people, including we ourselves, act as dogs. For ourselves, we need to learn the value of what we have received. For sharing the Gospel with others it is a matter of spiritual discernment and waiting on the work of the Lord for a time when a more spiritual appraisal of the pearls surfaces, an awareness that is finally becoming more human than dog.
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus turned what for the entire world beforehand had been a negative statement of morality, 'Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you', into a positive. He turned what has been called the silver rule, accessible even to natural wisdom, into the golden rule. It was new in the sense of requiring positive action and generosity toward others rather than simply limiting hostility and harm. But it was old in the sense that this was always the way the Law and the Prophets pointed, even if it was only becoming fully explicit in Jesus himself.
Please separate from me.
If you prefer the left, I will go to the right;
if you prefer the right, I will go to the left.”
Only in our highest moments could mere humans reveal the positive side of the law, by being generous in the way that Abram was generous, rather than merely avoiding a fight. But it would take Jesus himself to fully reveal the positive side by the way that he loved us even unto folly.
Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few.”
The gate that leads to life is Jesus himself, who told us that he was the gate for the sheep (see John 10:9). The way is narrow in the sense that it is one specific way among others, a particular truth, and a particular choice. There is a single name given under heaven by which we may be saved (see Acts 4:12) amidst all the names given under heaven. It is by conformity to Jesus and his name that we hope to have salvation. We hope this happens in those who through no fault of their own are unaware of the specifics of revelation. But we are moved to leave nothing to chance. If there are dogs disregarding those things which are the most valuable, if there are people walking in the opposite direction of the gate, may the Lord reach such people, using us to help as he wills.
He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
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