Sacrificing Animals is Inherently Wrong, Suggests Jesus. Dr. Chapman Chen
- Chapman Chen
- Jul 20
- 2 min read
In Mark 12:28–34, Jesus summarises the Ten Commandments into two essential principles: to love God wholeheartedly and to love our neighbours as ourselves. A Jewish teacher then affirms that these two commandments, as pronounced by Jesus, are more important than animal sacrifice. In response, Jesus tells him that he is “not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.”
According to Norm Phelps (2002, 191), this exchange implies that the Torah teacher needs to take only one more step: to recognise that animal sacrifice is not merely less significant, but inherently wrong.
In my submission, this interpretation is supported by the fact that, on two separate occasions in the NT, Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, saying, “I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice.”
1. "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matt. 9:13, NASB).— The term “sinners” here may refer to people who have not yet gone vegan.
2. "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent" (Matt. 12:7, NASB).— “The innocent” could be interpreted as those innocent creatures who are abused, exploited, raped, and murdered by humans.
In this context, “animal sacrifice” may be understood not only in the narrow ritualistic sense, but also in a broader ethical sense — encompassing all forms of harm done to animals.
Indeed, Jesus can be seen as a martyr for animal liberation. When he overturned the tables in the Temple and drove out the animals about to be slaughtered for sacrifice, calling the Temple a “den of robbers” or, as some manuscripts imply, murderers (cf. Mark 11:16; Luke 20:46; Matt. 21:12–13), he exposed the violent and fraudulent nature of the sacrificial system. In doing so, he disrupted the chief priests’ and scribes’ lucrative trade. Immediately afterward, they began to conspire to kill him (Mark 11:15–18), a chain of events that ultimately led to his arrest, trial, and crucifixion (cf. Keith Akers 2000, 117–118).
Thus, to truly enter the Kingdom of Heaven—as Jesus affirmed to the insightful Jewish teacher—we must not only reject all sacrificial cults, but also abstain from consuming or abusing sentient creatures of God in any form. #VeganChrist #VeganGod #VeganChurch #VeganTheology
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