“Bible animals: Locusts and wild honey”
Matthew 3:4
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
How would you like to weigh what you did back in your 20s? Or would you simply like to lose ten pounds in a week? Then why not try a fad diet? At least that’s what some want us to believe!
Take, for example, the Atkins diet, created by a cardiologist named Robert Atkins back in the early 70s. It’s that high protein, high fat diet--think beef, bacon, butter, and brown rice--that’s become the most famous low-carb weight loss diet in the world. Studies have shown that it’s one of the most effective ways to lose weight.
And like Bob Atkins, Art Agatston was also a cardiologist who wanted to help his patients lose weight without feeling hungry, so he created an even lower-carb, lower-fat, high protein diet called the South Beach Diet, named after the area in South Florida where he practiced medicine. And even though the diet is pretty good overall, it does encourage you to use processed oils like soybean oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, and cottonseed oil, which apparently aren’t so good for you after all.
So much for the South Beach Diet.
Or how about the Ketogenic Diet? Much like the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet, the “Keto” Diet also tells you to eat meat, fish, butter, and eggs, but to eliminate carbs entirely like fruit, grains, rice, and beans.
And if meat is just not your thing, there’s always the Vegan Diet! And why not? After all, studies show that those on the Vegan Diet lose twice as much weight as those in any other group.
And if none of those really work for you, you could always try the Paleo Diet, the Zone Diet, the Dukan Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Nutrisystem Diet, the Slim-Fast Diet, the Weight Watchers Diet, the Gluten-free Diet, or the Baby Food Diet, not to mention a couple of my favorites--the Carnivore Diet and the Cookie Diet.
Or if you just don’t want to work so hard, you could always try the Sleeping Beauty Diet.
What’s the Sleeping Beauty Diet, you ask? Apparently, someone back in the 70s got the bright idea to put people to sleep for a few days so they couldn’t eat. While it might be effective, it’s probably not the healthiest idea!
Or how about one more--high in protein and high in carbs, with just a little bit of crunch, let’s call it the John the Baptist Diet--locusts and wild honey!
I’ll read the words of Matthew chapter 3: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.”’ Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:1-6).
It’s funny how many animals are in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, Satan used a snake to tempt our first parents, Adam and Eve. Noah sent a raven and a dove out from the ark. In the book of Exodus, frogs and flies, lice and locusts invaded Egypt. In the book of Numbers, a donkey talked. And in the book of John, a rooster crowed.
As Jesus said in the book of Matthew, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). And He said, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26-27).
John’s story began some thirty years before when the angel Gabriel appeared to his father, Zechariah, in the temple. Remember? Just as soon as he walked into that holy place to burn incense on the altar, the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John” (Luke 1:13). And he said, “He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:15, 17).
Zechariah said, “How can I be so sure? I’m old, and so is my wife, Elizabeth!” (Luke 1:18).
And the angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news!” (Luke 1:19).
Then thirty years later, just as the angel promised, John prepared the way for the Lord. To the crowds who came to be baptized by him, he said, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Luke 3:7). And he said, “I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16).
It was of him that Jesus would later say, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).
Now for just a moment, let’s talk about that diet, that John the Baptist diet--locusts and wild honey.
Let’s start with the locusts. Why did he eat locusts?
Well, for one reason, he was a man of the wilderness. It’s where he prepared the way for the Lord. And when you live in the wilderness, you eat whatever the wilderness can provide--and that’s locusts.
Now as much as I hate to say it, (I am a Westerner, after all!), people around the world do eat locusts. In fact, in ancient Greece and Rome, and even today in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, fried locusts, cicadas, and grasshoppers are considered a delicacy superior to the best meat or fish.
Even more, those little creatures supposedly have enormous nutritional value. Grasshoppers, for instance, are sixty percent protein, while chicken or beef are only a measly twenty percent.
In the words of author and survivalist Christopher Nyerges, “When hordes of locusts destroy acres of crops, farmers should be counting their blessings and rapidly collecting locusts. After all, the locusts are a much higher protein source than the grains they’re devouring.”
Even the Bible says you can eat them! Leviticus chapter 11 says, “Among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have joined legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground: locust, katydid, cricket, and grasshopper of any kind” (Leviticus 11:21-22).
And what do locusts taste like? Those who’ve had them say they taste like prawns or chicken schnitzel or toasted sunflower seeds. Deep fried and dipped in chocolate, they're kind of mild, kind of nutty, and kind of yeasty, environmentally friendly, with just a little bit of crunch, and high in protein, iron, and zinc.
Don’t like fruit cake? Well then, this just might be the perfect conversation starter at your next Christmas Open House!
But that’s not all he ate. As the Bible says, “Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4).
Why honey? That too is a perfect food! It’s anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, and rich in antioxidants and minerals like phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium, not to mention amino acids--the building blocks of protein. It’ll help calm your cough, and lower your blood pressure and cholesterol.
And it’ll never spoil! Believe it or not, archaeologists have found honey that’s still good, even though it’s thousands of years old!
Now let’s stop there for just a moment. If you think about it, the Bible doesn’t say a word about what Jesus ate. Did He have wine at the wedding in Cana? Probably. He did, after all, turn water into wine. And did He eat fish and bread with His disciples? Probably. He met them, early one morning, on the Sea of Galilee’s shore.
Also we know that the Bible doesn’t waste words. If it says something, there’s always a good reason that it’s there.
So why is it there? Why did the Bible bother to say that John ate locusts and wild honey?
Simply this--just as locusts were a symbol of God’s judgment and destruction, so John boldly and fearlessly prepared the way for the Lord. As he said: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from God’s wrath?” (Matthew 3:7).
And honey? Not just any honey. Wild honey. Pure honey. Undefiled honey. Unadulterated honey. Honey not subject to the rules and the laws of men.
And while the locusts were the law, the honey was the gospel--the pure, raw, untreated, undiluted, sweet mercy of God, who sent His Son, holy and undefiled, to be born of a woman, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid to rest in straw--one of us, one with us, to make us right with God.
If you were to visit the Black Forest of Germany, you’d likely hear the call of a most unusual bird. It’s grayish-brown in color and eleven inches long full-grown. Since it’s typically found in the Black Forest, you’ll see an imitation of one on top of most German cuckoo clocks.
But even though cuckoos are some of the best-known birds, they’re also a little strange (which, I suppose, is why we call them “cuckoo”!). And what makes them so strange is that they don’t bother to build their own nest. Instead, when a mother cuckoo is about to lay an egg, she finds another nest with eggs already in it. Then she chases away the mother bird, usually a thrush, lays one of her own eggs in the nest, then takes off again. And not being the best at arithmetic, the momma thrush bird returns to her nest and doesn’t seem to notice she has an extra egg. So she gets back to warming her nest.
Two weeks later, when four little thrushes and one large cuckoo hatch, that’s when the problems begin. You see, the cuckoo bird is two to three times as big as a thrush. And when Mrs. Thrush comes back early in the morning with a fresh, juicy worm, she circles the nest to see four tiny mouths and one huge cuckoo mouth.
Who gets the worm? The cuckoo.
And as the days pass, the cuckoo gets bigger and bigger while the thrushes get smaller and smaller. Finally, as each one begins to die, Mrs. Thrush throws them out of the nest.
They say that if you want to find a baby cuckoo in a nest, simply walk around until you find dead little thrushes on the ground. Then climb the tree, look in the nest, and you’ll likely see a momma thrush feeding a baby cuckoo that’s grown to three times her size!
It’s easy to say that, inside each and every one of us, there are two natures--a sinful nature and one that belongs to God. And the one you feed is the one that grows. The one you starve will die.
Which one will live? In this season of Advent, John the Baptist calls out for you to repent and turn to Jesus.
On that first Christmas, He didn’t come with trumpet blast or with a pageantry that honors kings. Instead, He came to a poor, humble carpenter named Joseph and his wife, Mary, in a little town called Bethlehem. But when He comes again, He’ll come with power and glory and every eye will see Him as He is.
May we be ready to meet Him.
As John once called his people to repent, dear Father, so call us to turn from our sinful ways and live, that we may find hope and help in You, for Jesus’ sake. Amen