NOT SO KOSHER PASTA

This creamy seafood and bacon linguine comes together quickly making it easy enough for a weeknight, but fancy enough for a special occasion.

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Eat

Yields 4-6 Servings

Ingredients

1 box (16 oz) linguine

3 tablespoons butter

3 slices thick-cut bacon, diced

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water

1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper, plus more for garnish

12 large prawns, peeled and deveined

12 large scallops

1/4 cup dry white wine

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup half-and-half cream

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

1/4 cup fresh basil, julienned

Instructions

1. Cook linguine according to package directions. Drain and toss with 2 tablespoons of butter. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, add remaining butter and diced bacon to a large skillet over medium heat. When fully browned, remove bacon from the pan and set aside. To the pan add onions, tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for about 2 minutes. Add scallops, cook on each side for 30 seconds to form a crust. Add prawns and cook, stirring often, for an additional minute.

3. Stir in wine and lemon juice. Increase heat to medium-high. Return bacon to the pan, then stir in half-and-half, parmesan cheese, basil and lemon zest. Cook until prawns are pink, scallops are opaque and the sauce is slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in linguine to coat and serve. Garnish with additional pepper and parmesan to taste.

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Theology

Inspired Word

Leviticus 19:1-2

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy…”

Mark 7:14-15

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.

Bite Sized Theology

Translating to the English word “listen”, the Hebrew word Shema came to mean a prayer, a hymn of praise, and to function as a Jewish pledge of allegiance which summed up their national and religious identity. Known as “The Shema”, the brief lines stem from Deuteronomy 6:4 which states, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!”

The Main Meal

In the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law was the best representation of God’s holiness available to His people, the Israelites. The whole of Leviticus, but particularly chapter 19, represents how the Israelites as a community were to remain pure, clean, undefiled and set apart from those who did not know God. In so doing, they could then model God to those around them and bring His saving presence to all the world. In the New Testament, Jesus was God’s holiness incarnate and He radically changed the contemporary understanding of the Mosaic Law. After His death, the early Church wrestled with their changing understanding of the Law and how it fit with Jesus’ significant instruction that they should reach out to all Nations.

Leviticus 19 opens with a call to the community and a clear argument for why the Laws were to matter to them: “Be holy, because I the LORD your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2b). Scholar Mary Douglas, who envisions Leviticus as modeled after the structure of the tabernacle, sees the frequent repetition of this statement – “I am the Lord (your God)” – as an indication that this is God’s holiest place within the Law. Central to this chapter is the command which Jesus deemed second only to the Shema, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:29-31). Were there any question as to which neighbor one must love, Leviticus 19:34 makes clear that the Israelites are to extend this love to the foreigner just as they do to their fellow Israelite – a point which Jesus illustrates and emphasizes in His parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

This extension of love is significant. The negative laws (those which say “do not”) preceding Lev. 19:18 are about showing God’s holiness through the right treatment of your fellow man. The negative laws between verses 18 and 34 (including the laws about clean and unclean animals) are about behaviours which distinguish the Israelite community from those surrounding them. As a traditional society, religion and daily life were intimately connected for the Israelites and their neighboring nations. It is because of this interweaving of daily life and religious holiness that so many of the distinctions of Leviticus 19 are visible parts of the Israelite’s appearance, routines, and dietary habits. They had to look different from those who worship other gods so that their God, YHWH, would not be confused with the gods of those who came before them. This is why actions which could conflate worship of YHWH with worship of the deities of the surrounding people were called unclean – they defiled His name.

While it was necessary for the Israelites to be distinct – and keep their God distinct - that distinctness was never meant to be exclusionary. Just as a well-planned advertising campaign distinguishes a brand to invite participation with it, the Israelites distinction was meant to be an invitation to participle in YHWH’s love. Their call to love of neighbour is a holy enactment of God’s love. The restrictive laws which distinguish His holiness are subordinate to those which enact His holiness.

In Jesus’ day this right ordering of priorities had been turned upside down and Mark 7 sees Jesus not only correcting the error but setting in motion a series of events which will remove the need for the laws of distinction. The chapter opens with concern over Jesus’ disciples’ unwashed hands. It is important to note that this is not a hygiene issue, but rather a ceremonial one based on a tradition which had developed around the purity laws. In an effort to avoid breaking any of the Levitical purity laws, the staunchest Jews had created additional rules. In the case of handwashing, the sentiment was that their hands may have been spiritually defiled by the public marketplace. If it were simply about clean hands, the conversation could have ended with Jesus’ statement in verse 9, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” Jesus knows, though, that they have abused God’s laws on purity and used them as a way to reject, rather than love, the Gentile people. As such, Jesus does not say “it is not unclean hands that can defile a person”, but instead, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them” (Mark 7:15a – emphasis mine). In this way He calls all objects, fluids, and foods which had been called defiling in the Law into question, and He brings them back to the Genesis affirmation that God’s creation is good.

Jesus takes the basic rabbinic theory that an object’s interior space was its most unclean and then turns the argument back on His opponents by applying it to the insides of people. He shows that all things, holy and defiled, come from within us and pour out, rather than coming from without and passing through. The fact that this episode is followed immediately by the discourse with the Greek, Syrophoenician woman is no accident on Mark’s part. Mark has set us up with his editorial comment that all foods are cleansed (v.19) and is now ready to show why. Food laws, especially as advanced and exercised by the Pharisees, kept the Gentiles from God. Now Jesus has gone to a Gentile region and is standing with a person who is threefold defiling but is asking for love. She accepts that she is defiled and hopes to see the cleansing which only God can do. A hope for which she is rewarded. Then, as now, God calls His people to holiness. Though this may include restrictions for distinction, we must never forget that such distinctions are to help people see God’s love never to keep them from it.

References

Douglas, Mary. 1999. “Justice as the Cornerstone: An Interpretation of Leviticus 18-20.” Interpretation 53 (4): 341–50.

Edwards, James R. The Gospel According to Mark. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002.

Geddert, Timothy J. Believers Church Bible Commentary: Mark. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001.

Guthrie, D. ed, J. A. Motyer ed, A. M. Stibbs, ed, and D. J. Wiseman ed. The New Bible Commentary: Revised. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970.

Halley, Henry H. Halley’s Bible Handbook. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1965.

Thielman, Frank. Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.

Thompson, Melinda. 2015. “Reading Leviticus 19: Issues for Interpretation.” Restoration Quarterly 57 (2): 95–108.