Many people adhere to a vegan food regimen in today’s American culture, because it offers advantages for those with certain health issues, sustains the environment, and eases the conscience for many who are concerned about killing and consuming animals. Other people all over the world, like Hindus, follow a vegan food regimen for religious purposes. Vegans don’t eat any animals or animal byproducts, so along with meat, they abstain from dairy products and even honey.
For Christians who struggle with the ethics of killing and eating animals, and for many who wrestle with what it means to honor their physical bodies as temples for the Lord, it’s only natural that they wonder if Jesus was vegan. If we’re called to mimic Jesus, shouldn’t we imitate all parts of Him? Wouldn’t that include His food regimen and the way He responded to animals and the environment?
With these essential questions in mind, let’s have a look at Scripture to higher understand whether Jesus adhered to today’s traditional vegan food regimen.
What Does the Bible Say about What Jesus Ate?
Before we dissect Bible verses, it’s essential to keep in mind that Jesus was Jewish and honored Jewish dietary restrictions. Jews abstained from unclean meat, which is any animal that doesn’t have completely split hooves or doesn’t eat cud. Primarily, this includes pig, camel, and rabbit meat, in addition to unclean fish, like shellfish, and certain birds (see Leviticus 11 for deeper details).
While Scripture states that Jesus honored the Jewish food regimen, New Testament passages heavily support the claim that Jesus did eat (clean) meat:
1. In Matthew 26:17-20, we read that Jesus shared His last Passover meal with His disciples. Per Levitical law, the Passover meal has a strict, specific menu. A portion of Jesus’ Passover meal would have included lamb (or goat as a correct substitute). Though Scripture doesn’t blatantly state, “Jesus ate lamb/goat,” it’s secure to consider He ate one in all these clean meats to honor the Jewish dietary custom.
2. Following Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples wanted further proof that He was alive in a physical body. Jesus provided this proof by asking for a meal to eat. John 21:1-17 shares the particular meal Jesus consumed, which included bread and (clean) fish. In Luke 24:42-43, where this same encounter is recorded, Scripture clearly states that Jesus ate fish: “They gave him a bit of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it of their presence.”
What Role Did Food Play in Jesus’ Teachings and Ministry?
While Jewish dietary laws don’t specifically speak to a contemporary vegan lifestyle, it is necessary to notice that the Jewish food regimen included fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Jesus often used a lot of these foods, most notably fruit, for instance His teachings.
In Matthew 11:12-25, we see that Jesus was hungry and approached a fig tree, hoping to seek out the tree fruiting. It wasn’t in bloom, and there have been no figs, so Scripture shares that Jesus cursed the fig tree. It withered, died, and was never fruitful again.
While this might sound silly or a bit like a “hangry” moment, it was neither of those things. Jesus used this chance to share with His disciples the importance of religion, of believing in Him to do the not possible. This is similar section of Scripture where Jesus declares, “Therefore I let you know, whatever you ask for in prayer, consider that you might have received it, and it would be yours. And once you stand praying, in the event you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, in order that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (vv. 24-25).
Other key Scriptures where Jesus uses fruit to share essential truths include John 15:5-8: “I’m the vine; you might be the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you’ll bear much fruit; other than me you may do nothing. If you don’t stay in me, you might be like a branch that’s thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fireplace and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it would be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you just bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
So Was Jesus Vegan?
When we have a look at the Bible, most notably Jesus’ post-resurrection meal with His disciples, it’s not possible to disclaim that Jesus ate meat. Though He only consumed clean meat, fish is, indeed, a meat, which wouldn’t follow today’s traditional vegan menu.
It’s also essential to read Acts 10:9-15: “About noon the next day as they were on their journey and approaching town, Peter went up on the roof to wish. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell right into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a big sheet being let all the way down to earth by its 4 corners. It contained all types of four-footed animals, in addition to reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ ‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I actually have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’ The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’”
Here, the Lord revealed a vision to Peter, where a sheet descended from heaven, and all animals, even those traditionally unclean per Jewish custom, were now clean. Peter was wary of the Lord’s command to devour the “unclean” animals, however the Lord was clear that no man can corrupt what He has made clean.
Does It Matter if Jesus Was Vegan or Not?
In the grand scheme of Christian living, whether or not Jesus was vegan shouldn’t be the priority a lot as the center behind why Jesus did what He did. Jesus ate meat to honor the Passover, a celebration of God preserving and freeing the Jewish people once enslaved by the Egyptians. Jesus ate meat with His disciples to prove that He was in a resurrected body, assuring His faithful followers, the pillars of the Church, that He was the Messiah, the One definitely worth the ultimate sacrifice a lot of them would make.
No Bible verses state that it’s mistaken for the New Testament Christian to eat meat or abstain from eating meat. Therefore, our food regimen should reflect the non-public conviction shared between us and the Holy Spirit, and it shouldn’t be a way by which we judge others or further divide a culture already suffering from hostility and separation.
So often, the Bible leaves a lot of our questions without specific, modern answers, but perhaps that is so we dig deeper into Scripture, pray with more fervor, and search out the center of God. After all, it’s not a lot about rules and laws as it’s the love, hope, and sacrifice behind them.
Whether you eat all sorts of meat or are pescatarian, vegan, or vegetarian, remember this:
“Therefore I let you know, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or drink; or about your body, what you’ll wear. Is not life greater than food, and the body greater than clothes? Look on the birds of the air; they don’t sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not far more priceless than they? Can any one in all you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:25-27
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