Die to the Greedy Self; Rise in the Vegan Christ! By Dr. Chapman Chen

Jesus the vegan Nazoraean did not come simply to adjust the practices of a broken world. Through His teachings, His miracles, and His crucifixion, Jesus brought something radically new — a new kingdom, a new covenant, and a new humanity — all vegan. In emptying the Temple of innocent creatures about to be slaughtered for sacrifice, and in calling the Temple-turned-butcher-shop "a den of murderers" (Mark 11:16, Luke 20:46, Matt. 21:12-13), Jesus debunked the evil and fraudulent nature of animal sacrifice and disrupted the chief priests' and scribes' lucrative revenue stream. Immediately afterwards, they plotted to destroy Him (Mark 11:15-18), eventually leading to His arrest, death, and resurrection at Easter (cf. Akers 2000, 117-118).

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1. A New Wine Following a Divine Disruption

As exemplified by His disruption of the High Priesthood’s business in the Temple, Jesus’ presence was not an add-on to the old order but a divine disruption, and He made this truth vivid when He taught, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins… No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins” (Luke 5:37–38). This was no mere metaphor about containers and contents. It was a call to deep spiritual transformation. The new wine — the Spirit of the Vegan Christ — cannot be contained within the old structures of violence, appetite, and self-preservation. It demands new vessels. It requires the soul to be made new.

2. Die to Meatism

But this newness is not cheap. It is not cosmetic. To receive the living Christ into our lives, we must undergo a kind of dying. As Jesus taught His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The cross is not a decoration; it is a death sentence — not of the body necessarily, but of the false self: the self that clings to greed, meatism, violence, vanity, and domination. And again, Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). His words are clear: transformation requires surrender. Resurrection demands a grave.

3. No Salvation While Crucifying God’s Creatures

What, then, are we called to surrender? We must die to our avaricious, violent, self-serving, vain, and hypocritical selves — to the part of us that desires the flesh of the innocent, that justifies cruelty by tradition, that praises God with lips but crucifies His creatures with hands. This is not salvation; it is contradiction. How can we claim to be risen with Christ while clinging to the death of lambs, calves, chickens, and fish? How can we speak of resurrection while we ourselves profit from the tombs of others?

4. Go Vegan In Order to Rise in Christ 

To be reborn in Christ is not merely to believe; it is to become. It demands repentance — a turning from the path of blood toward the way of peace. It demands a resurrection not only at the end of our lives but in the very midst of them. It is not enough to speak of love while our appetites demand suffering. Christ, who fed the multitudes, never slaughtered them. Christ, who was led like a lamb to the slaughter, never led others to it.

5. Pour Out the Old Bloody Wine

Let us then pour out the old bloody wine. Let us refuse to carry Christ in a vessel built of cruelty. Let us empty ourselves of blood and be filled instead with Spirit. And let us rise, as Christ rose — not just into the mystery of Heaven, but into a new kind of earthly life, one that embodies the love, compassion, and peace of the One who has overcome death itself.

6. Let Our Hands and Stomach Speak Resurrection

If Christ is risen, then let us rise too — not just in word, but in deed; not just in church, but in kitchen, table, and heart. Let our choices proclaim the Gospel. Let our hands and stomach speak resurrection. Let our lives whisper, with every act of mercy, “He is risen… and so am I.”  (#VeganChrist   #VeganGod  #VeganTheology)

Amen.