“Who you eat with is who you humanize.”

I heard a professor discussing missions, and he said to his class:

“Who you eat with is who you humanize.”

He continued by pointing out the lunch tables in middle school and high school as prime examples. Whenever he took students on mission trips, he told them they will try anything put in front of them by their hosts.

In the Gospel of Luke, we find 10 meals of Jesus. By the numbers, we have:

• four with disciples
• three with Pharisees
• two with tax collectors (Matthew/Levi and Zacheus) and
• one with 5,000 men (plus women and children).

Each of these has a different story and we can glean a lot out it. I want to pull out the middle five mentioned above – Those with the Pharisees and those with the Tax Collectors (and “sinners”).

The “Tax Collector” meals make sense. I mean, I would want to dine with the rich guys that know how to party. In both cases, there’s a call to see how they are living and to change.

In Luke 5:27-39, Jesus defends his choice, and tells the crowd about “new wine,” and we know from tradition and other clues in the text that the Levi becomes our disciple, Matthew. And in the story of Zacheus, we see a man who lived a life of cheating and stealing to gather his own wealth, and after a meal with Jesus, a man who lived out radical generosity (19:1-10). Jesus humanized them and invited them into the Kingdom.
Early in His ministry, Jesus was very popular with the Pharisees. When Jesus went to Simon’s house, He taught about debt forgiveness and gratitude (7:36-50). When He ate with Pharisees one afternoon, he taught about their inconsistency to the religious Law (11:37-54). When He ate with them on Sabbath, He spoke about living out the Law and the Kingdom of Heaven (14:1-24). Jesus humanized them and invited them into the Kingdom.

Often, we look for places where Jesus calls out others for their sins. We want Jesus’ interaction to be harsh to one group or the other. But I don’t think it is. When Jesus eats with people, he humanizes them, and loves them (yes, even the tax collectors, and yes, even the Pharisees). And then he invites all of us into the Kingdom of Heaven. Every time, He call people to something greater, and sometimes that’s hard.

I don’t think Jesus would make any of us comfortable. But I think He would make all of us feel loved.

Neil Strickland
Teaching Team