Unclean Falling Lizards

‘These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind; the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. Leviticus 11:29-30

An unusual weather event brings with it unusual news reports, such as the report of falling iguanas in Florida from the cold temperatures there. (Cold being relative to the location as usual.) Around here last week the poor lizards would have been frozen solid and unlikely to survive, as opposed to the 'frozen' news headline I read which is an exaggeration.

Reading a bit of the Law of Moses, we see that there were no survivalists among the Israelites as many of the things a person might use for food in a pinch were banned by the law. Unclean! simply to touch them; obviously eating an unclean thing would be problematic. As I was about to run out onto the streets yelling a warning about unclean falling lizards, along came Jesus saying, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” (Mark 7:18-19)

The Lord also went on to tell His disciples about all those terrible and defiling things that come out of the heart of man. We are defiled from within. While we look around at the world, fearful of defilement by an outside source, we spew forth from an unclean heart the defilement we fear. That is of course the very thing that Jesus came to save us from! Praise God for the cleansing of the heart by the blood of the Lamb that goes on in us even today. And if you should need to travel way down south today, watch out for those falling lizards!

Bucky