Recently, Arron Chambers joined me on Connecting Faith to talk about Eats with Sinners. Yes, it’s a book, but it’s also a way of life. If, that is, you’re Jesus.

Consider the truth that from His first meal as God-incarnate until the Last Supper, Jesus ate with sinners. In fact, He seemed to seek out opportunities to eat with sinners. In Mark 2, He ate at the home of Levi, the tax collector. This meal provoked a conversation about Jesus’ priorities and discernment. The Pharisees saw Him eating with sinners and asked Jesus’ disciples why. Jesus answered directly,

“The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)

Jesus made it a priority to eat with sinners. Do we? Several meal-time scenes come to mind as we consider the life of Jesus:

•  Dinner at the home of Levi with tax collectors and sinners (Mark 2).
•  Feeding the 5000 (Mark 14:13-21).
•  Dinner at the home of Zaccheaus (Luke 19:1-10).
•  Feeding another multitude (John 6).
•  Dinner at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42).
•  Dinner at the home of Simon the leper where Jesus was anointed (Matthew 26:6-13).
•  The last supper in the Upper Room on the night he was betrayed (Luke 22:7-38).
•  Breaking the bread with the disciples upon arrival in Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).
•  Breakfast on the beach with the disciples who had returned to fishing (Luke 21).

There’s a feast with Jesus planned for the future as well. But when we sit down at table fellowship in the Kingdom of Heaven there won’t be any sinners present. All then will be saints – because of Jesus.

Your place is reserved at that table and Jesus is the host. As a sinner, have you accepted His invitation to join Him in the Father’s house for the wedding feast of The Lamb who takes away the sins of the world?

One more thought: as you pray over your next meal, ask God to use it as a time to make Christ known to others through the breaking of the bread.

Arron Chambers on eating with sinners