gluttony- 7 deadly sins

Deut8:1-10; Phil3:17-21; Luke16:19-31

We are continuing with our series on the Seven Deadly Sins. We are looking at them as diseases of the soul, which are treated by the opposing virtue. This week we are looking at the sin of Gluttony. It is a sin that is hard to avoid in our society. We have an incredible abundance of food. And we also have an incredible variety of foods. Even in the middle of winter we have fruit available to us from all over the world.

We have abundance in quantity and in variety. And we are also bombarded with stimuli trying to convince us to partake. We see tv commercials telling us about new foods at the grocery store, and fast food restaurants. The radio tells us about the latest restaurant specials. The magazine rack is full of pictures of cake recipes. We are bombarded by information about food.

This often results in us eating too much, and often eating what isn’t good for us. Our instincts served us well in the past when food was scarce. We were attracted to foods that gave us quick energy and which could result in stored energy in preparation for seasons when we didn’t have much available. But, now we don’t have seasons of scarcity, yet our instincts still draw us to those rich foods that used to be rare.

One of the things that becomes obvious when we practice fasting is how much time we spend on food. We spend time thinking about what to make. Then we spend time making the food. Then we spend time eating the food. Then we have to clean up the dishes and the pots and pans and counter. If we do that for breakfast, lunch, and supper, that is a lot of energy spent on food. And if you are someone who is particularly obsessed with food you might even day dream about food, or reflect on past meals.

We can sometimes think that gluttony has to do with sheer quantity of food eaten. It is more than that, though. Gluttony can include an inordinate amount of money spent on food. An inordinate amount of time spend thinking about, preparing, and consuming food. Gluttony can be exposed by our pickiness about food- having it spiced just right, prepared just right, or at just the right temperature. Gluttony is an obsession, of some kind, having to do with what we consume. It is an unwillingness to exercise self-control around food- having to do with the timing of our meals, snacking between meals, or maybe even our unwillingness to exercise table manners.

So we shouldn’t think Gluttony is just about eating too much. and we definitely shouldn’t connect it to body shape or anything as crude as that. Gluttony is much deeper than that.

I think it would be reasonable to include drug and alcohol abuse in the category of gluttony as well, since gluttony has to do with the pleasure we receive from what we consume.

St. Thomas Aquinas says Gluttony is an “Immoderate appetite in eating and drinking.” He goes on to describe this- “We regard an appetite as immoderate when it departs from the reasonable order of life in which moral good is found.”

Gluttony forgets the passage Jesus quotes during his temptation in the wilderness, “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:3). Gluttony elevates the pleasures of food until it starts to eclipse God. Paul talks about those who are enemies of the cross saying, “their god is the belly” (Phil 3:19). They allow their immediate pleasures to take precedence over the pursuit of God’s kingdom.

Gluttony can also be an issue of justice. In our Gospel reading from Luke 16 Jesus describes a man who “feasted sumptuously every day” (Lk 16:19) and perhaps because he was obsessed with the pleasures of life ignored poor Lazarus at his gates. … I sometimes wonder how often that is how we appear. We feast sumptuously as we pursue every pleasure and because of this we are blinded to the poor Lazaruses of the world.



The virtue that is the cure for gluttony is temperance. Temperance is to control our appetite so that our consumption is under the control of our reason. To work towards this virtue we should consider what role food should play in our lives as disciples of Christ. It is meant to sustain us so that we have the health and vitality to do what God is calling us to do. It is okay to enjoy eating (after all, it is God who made it taste good, and who gave us taste buds!), but we should beware of obsessing over the pleasures of eating. Just as Paul warned about the pleasures of the belly becoming our God, we can become slaves to the pleasures of consuming rather than being the masters of what we consume. This is why alcohol and drug abuse should maybe fall under this category of sin. Addiction is slavery.

This means that we should not necessarily eat until we are full. And we should be careful about being too finicky about maximizing the pleasure we get from eating.

But, this is not black and white. For example, Bishop Jeremy Taylor says that if we experience times of depression that allowing ourselves more food or wine might assist our mood and should be allowed.

If we are concerned with pleasure we should remind ourselves that a life of temperance brings more happiness in the long run as we will probably life longer and more healthy lives. We might actually enjoy food more if we practice temperance- doesn’t food taste better when you are actually hungry and you haven’t eaten in a while? It is also likely that we will be more able to focus on our spiritual work and service to God when our minds are not clouded by gluttony. We have a responsibility to maintain our health (as much as that is within our power), so that we can be useful to God in mind and body. It is also good stewardship to treat the body God has given us with care. Temperance helps us to worship better, study better, serve better, pray better. The organ of our body is our means of worship and service. Gluttony gets in the way of all that.

To move towards temperance it can help to try to think from a heavenly perspective. When thinking about how gluttony looks from the point of view of heaven Bishop Jeremy Taylor says, 

“when thy soul dwells above, and looks down upon the pleasures of the world, they seem like things at a distance, little and contemptible, and men running after the satisfaction of their [drunken] appetites seem foolish as fishes, thousands of them running after a rotten worm that covers a deadly hook” (Rule and Exercises of Holy Living).

 If we keep the big picture in mind then the temptations of the pleasures of the moment will have less power to overwhelm us. Maturity is often about the ability to delay gratification.

There are a number of things we can try to overcome the temptation of gluttony. We can eat smaller portions. We can eat slower. We can find something to divert our attention when we are tempted. Go for a walk. Read a good book.

This doesn’t mean we live lives that are grim and devoid of pleasure. The Bible commands times of celebration and feasting during holy days, and to celebrate certain important moments in life. But, surely celebration and feasting means more when we are not constantly feasting.

The virtue of temperance allows us to resist the immediate pleasure we get from consuming for the purpose of a greater long-term pleasure. God does not want to deny us pleasure. God is concerned with the greater, eternal pleasure that he wants to bestow on His people. In John 15:11 Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”. Jesus is not about denying us pleasures. What he wants is a joy that can be complete. Our joy can only ultimately be completed in God. Gluttony promises something it can’t give. It cannot complete our joy. Only God can do that.

"Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." Jn 6:27 

"For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink." Jn 6:55

AMEN