What Did Jesus Eat? Popular Bible Foods in the Day of Jesus

What did Jesus eat when He lived on the earth?  Was His diet kosher or do we know?  Did it really matter?  What were the foods available in the days where Jesus walked the earth?

Food We Know Jesus Ate

We know for sure that Jesus ate fish because Luke 24:41b-43 He asks, “Have you any food here? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.”  Some manuscripts don’t have the word “honey” but this is something that was not sinful to eat and was available in Jude so He likely ate honey as well.

Foods Jesus Likely Ate

Even if the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that Jesus ate certain foods, we can assume that He did since these were often native to the area in which He lived.

Olives

Figs

Grapes

Lamb

Legumes/Lentils or Beans

Melons

Pomegranates

Dates

Nuts

Raisons

Milk

Cheese

Eggs

Cucumbers

List of Foods Jesus Ate

Fish (even after His resurrection)

Bread (even after His resurrection)

Honey (very likely)

Corn

Wheat

Wine (during Passover, likely though had no or very little alcoholic content)

Jesus Declares All Food Clean

For those who hold to the strict dietary laws that the Jews kept, you have no need of doing so.  I do believe eating ham, bacon, or other foods that the Jews restricted were frequently unhealthy but we cannot judge people by what they eat but what comes out of their mouth is the most important thing.  Listen to what Jesus said in Mark 7:14-23:

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:  There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.  And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)  And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Truly, what comes out of a person’s mouth reveals what is in their heart and not what goes in.  A person’s words betray what they are really like.  If good, then good comes out and if not, then bad words come out.  Paul reiterates this in Colossians 2:16 writing “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath [so] Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him” (Rom 14:3).

Conclusion

We must follow Jesus’ example in this life but not so much what went into His mouth but what came out it.  Jesus told those who would follow Him to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44).  If you want to talk about clean and unclean, here’s the true cleansing that we all need.  Paul wrote in 2 Cor 5:21 that “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  If you are still in your sins when Christ returns, then you will die in your sins (John 8:24).  There will be no second chance of repentance (Rev 20:11-15). Trust in Christ today for He testifies that “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Senior Writer at www.WhatChristiansWantToKnow.com whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design
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