This Little Piggy

The pig is a divisive animal on Sumatra. Amongst the Nias and Batak cultures it is a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Amongst all the Muslim people groups it’s the epitome of unclean or haram. Pork literally entered into the deliberation of the Nias and Batak peoples – if they couldn’t continue to eat pork they didn’t want to become Muslim. The photo of this pig was taken on the island of Nias.

One worker, on his way to church services, was involved in a traffic accident. His vehicle was rendered undriveable. As is normal in Sumatra, a large crowd gathered. This was a dangerous situation. The worker could have been badly beaten. In God’s providence, one of the worker’s neighbors, a Muslim man, told the crowd to calm down and not do anything rash to the worker.

Many of the people in the crowd asked the worker, “Mau piggy (pigi).” The worker was very confused. The word “mau” means “to want.” The word “piggy” in English means a “young pig.” He could not comprehend why these Muslim people would be asking him about pork at an accident scene. It turns out that “pigi” is slang for “pergi” which means “to go.” They weren’t asking him if he wanted pig. They were asking him if he wanted to go, as in to leave the scene of the accident. They were taunting him.

In the end, the worker was able to get his car in driving order and take the injured person to the hospital. After the person was released from the hospital the worker took her home and got to share the Gospel with this young woman’s family. Isn’t it amazing how God can take a bad situation and turn it into something good?!

The point of the story is that every worker on Sumatra knows that pork is a sensitive issue.

Clean and unclean foods were also a major issue in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day. In Mark 7:15-23 Jesus teaches that it’s not the food that a person eats that makes them unclean, but rather the things that come out of a man’s heart such as evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness that causes a person to be defiled. According to Jesus dietary restrictions are too narrow of a view of what constitutes a person being clean or unclean before Holy God. Like the worker who misunderstood the meaning of, “Mau pigi?” there are many people on Sumatra who misunderstand God’s standards of righteousness.

Pray for Sumatrans to comprehend the Holiness of God and the true standard of what it takes to be truly clean before Him.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to overcome cultural barriers that keep people from giving the Gospel a fair hearing.

Pray for workers as they struggle with cultural and language barriers in their attempts to share God’s plan of salvation to the peoples of Sumatra.