Discovering Grace and Community at the Table

We had such a good sermon today, I want to share my notes.

"Eating our Way through Luke's Gospel: Discovering Grace and Community at the Table"

Text: Luke 5:27-32

Luke is filled with Jesus sharing meals with people. It is true that "a man is know by the company he keeps." Jesus is assembling a team of followers and He is picking the leftovers and the left-out to come to table fellowship with him. He is calling the outsiders. The three main characters of this text are Jesus, Levi, and the Pharisees.

Jesus is the Son of Man. Why is he called this? 1.) to serve and give His life for people, 2) to seek and save the lost, and 3) to throw a party! There were banquets everywhere Jesus went. Where the Messiah goes there is a feast. "The mountains will flow with sweet wine." Meals with Jesus are kingdom banquets. The kingdom takes shape around the table. Everywhere Jesus goes he feasts with people. In fact, he was accused (false though the charges were) of being a glutton and drunkard, but, eating and drinking were priorites for Jesus....he was a joyful Jesus and people wanted to be with him. Jesus was the perfect man and he threw himself into his community. He is a man of feasting and celebration--all of us are invited to feast and party with Him. Come as you are. Are you a really big sinner? Come as you are because Jesus is a friend of sinners.

Levi was a traitor to his people, a tax collector for Rome, a professional extortioner. Levites were the priestly tribe with a mission to represent the face of a loving God to the people. Levites were bridges. But as a tax collector he brought the tyranny of Caesar to the people. Levi not only feasted with Jesus when he was invited, he invited his "scumbag" friends to the banquet also. They all sat at the table with Jesus. You are accepted as you are---but Jesus doesn't let us stay as we are. To encounter Jesus is to be changed by Jesus. To share a place at the table with Jesus means you have been grafted into Him and have been chosen to be a part of His mission. God wants us to be like Levi and bring all sorts of people to feast with Him. Showing hospitality and friendship to others shows Jesus to others.

The Pharisees were offended by all this. They came to Jesus' party and complained about the guest list, asking, "Why are you eating with these tax collectors and sinners?" Sharing a meal together in their culture was a religious question. The pharisees practiced their righteousness by exclusion. Jesus crashes through the boundaries they had set. Jesus ate and drank with sinners.

Luke 5 tells us that Jesus answers their question with a metaphor. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." We do not presume to come to His table trusting in our own righteousness, but resting in His great mercy. Jesus heals through feasting with the sick. Jesus only heals those who admit they are sick. He did not come for people who thought they were healthy enough as they were. There is no one too sick for Jesus....come to His table just as you are! Therefore, let us keep the feast!