Answer # 3

We read in Luke 2:41-42 that it was the custom of Jesus' parents to go up to Jerusalem every year to eat the Passover. When Jesus was 12 - the age a young Jew was considered a man - He went with them.

Each family killed and ate a lamb at the Passover, so Jesus ate meat. Undoubtedly He continued to eat the Passover every year. We have specific mention that He ate the Passover at the end of his life (see Luke 22:1,7-8, 15 and parallel passages in Matthew, Mark and John).

Had Jesus been a vegetarian, people - especially those faultfinders who were always standing around to catch Him - would have noticed and wondered. The subject would have come up in the Gospel accounts. Therefore it is obvious Jesus ate the same things other Jews ate, including animal flesh.

If Jesus had been a vegetarian, He would have been known as an ascetic like John the Baptist (Luke 7:33). Instead, Jesus was called a glutton and a drunkard (verse 34) because He attended banquets and ate with Pharisees, tax collectors and other affluent people who certainly ate meat (verse 36).

As Lord, Christ also visited Abraham, and we read that He ate flesh (Gen. 18:1-8).

As a man Christ associated with fishermen and helped them catch fish, and He ate fish Himself (John 21:9, 13).

Peter, like Jesus, understood that some animals were created to be caught and killed to be used for man's benefit (II Pet. 2:12).