This Sunday we will be starting a new series called, Breaking Bread with Jesus. We will be staying in the book of Luke for the remainder of the summer.
It was Robert Karris, a Franciscan New Testament scholar, famously quipped…
“In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”
It’s a humorous overstatement, but it captures something true.
In Luke’s gospel we see…
Levi hosts a banquet (Luke 5).
Jesus eats with Pharisees (Luke 7).
He feeds the five thousand (Luke 9).
Martha and Mary welcome Him (Luke 10).
Another Pharisee invites Him (Luke 11).
He dines with a ruler of the Pharisees (Luke 14).
Zacchaeus welcomes Him (Luke 19).
The Last Supper (Luke 22).
Emmaus (Luke 24).
Jesus takes the opportunity to take a common everyday activity and make it personal, relational, and transformative. The table is where Jesus’ teaching becomes relational and where the kingdom becomes visible.
Jesus took the opportunity to relate to others at the table, maybe it is because we slow down a little at the table, we let our guard down at the table, we linger a bit longer at the table, conversations happen at the table, and stories are shared. Jesus isn’t just preaching; he is forming community.
This week we will be looking at; Breaking Bread with Jesus and Levi…
Luke 5:27-32 Common English Bible
27 Afterward, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
28 Levi got up, left everything behind, and followed him. 29 Then Levi threw a great banquet for Jesus in his home. A large number of tax collectors and others sat down to eat with them. 30 The Pharisees and their legal experts grumbled against his disciples. They said, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. 32 I didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.”
What stands out to you in this passage?
Is it that Jesus approached a tax collector?
Is it that Levi immediately left everything behind to follow Jesus?
Is that Levi threw a party and invited all his tax collector friends and other “sinners” to meet Jesus?
Is it that the religious folks of the day were appalled that Jesus would hang out with those types of people?
Do you wonder who the healthy (righteous) people and who the sick (sinners) people are?
Let’s talk about it on Sunday.
~Pastor Dustin
