At the Table - The People Jesus Spent Time WithSample

Calling All Sinners

Let’s grab lunch. Those are three simple words, but the outcome could be life-changing. Meals are and have always been extremely important in almost every culture. Meals can be the start of a friendship. They can hold the key to an important promotion. Meals are often the start of many romantic relationships. People gather around a table and share a meal in order to celebrate the announcement of new life and mourn the loss of a loved one. Meals are a significant part of the culture.

Children make mud pies, have tea parties, trade snacks to make friends, and mimic the rituals of adults. The truth is, you learn a lot about a person over a meal. Who they’re with. What they order. How they behave. What they say. How they act. How do they react? All of these things give us clues into who it is that we’re sitting across from.

Over the next five days, we are going to take time to discover who Jesus is from the people he grabbed lunch with. Jesus’ mission was fully focused on those who were far from His Father. Therefore, for us to live a life devoted to Jesus, we must always focus on those far off.

In today’s bible reading, you’ll meet Matthew - who was a tax collector. It doesn’t sound like much, but Matthew and other tax collectors like him were hated by their culture. They were seen as sell-outs by their culture and were known for making an insane profit off of their own people as they collected taxes for the Roman Empire. Today, we’ll see that Jesus loves to pursue people who are far from him.

Reflect: If Jesus was willing to grab lunch with someone that everyone else hated, what does that tell you about Jesus?

Pray: God, challenge me today as I read your word. Give me eyes to see you for who you truly are, and give me a heart that would love people the way you do. Amen.