-------
"Jesus’ meals weren’t limited to 'good' people"
Monday, 7 August 2017
Matthew 9:9 As Yeshua passed on from there he spotted a tax-collector named Mattityahu sitting in his collection booth. He said to him, “Follow me!” and he got up and followed him.
10 While Yeshua was in the house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners came and joined him and his talmidim at the meal. 11 When the P’rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” 12 But Yeshua heard the question and answered, “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. 13 As for you, go and learn what this means: ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.’[Matthew 9:13 Hosea 6:6] For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”
-------
Sometimes it’s the only meal we hear about, but Jesus did not eat just one “Last” supper. The gospels often show him at meals. Unlike many rabbis, he did not limit his table fellowship only to people regarded as “good.” He regularly shocked and upset the religious leaders, not just by calling people like the tax collector Matthew to follow him, but then joining him and all his (disreputable) friends for a meal. Such meals, like the communion meal, celebrated his grace and forgiveness.
• Author Brennan Manning once compared the social impact of what Jesus did here to a wealthy plantation owner in Atlanta, GA in 1925 inviting “four colored cotton-pickers” to Sunday dinner and after-dinner conversation at his mansion. * Do you believe Jesus’ approach would attract or offend more people in your neighborhood in 2017? What walls between people might God be calling us to break down?
• Jesus bluntly told the upset Pharisees, “I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.” Of course, that took in the whole human family (cf. Romans 3:23). Scholar Hans Küng wrote, “A Church that will not accept the fact that it consists of sinful men and exists for sinful men becomes hard-hearted, self-righteous, inhuman…. though it is true that the Church must always dissociate itself from sin, it can never have any excuse for keeping any sinner at a distance.” ** Make it personal: are you open to the truth that, to include you, the church has to accept and serve communion to a sinner?
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. As I live in the light and life of your grace, give me a heart that has a welcoming mercy for all my fellow sinners. Amen. * Brennan Manning, A Glimpse of Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003, p. 53. ** Hans Küng, On Being a Christian. New York: Doubleday, 1976, p. 507.
-------
Roberta LyleRoberta Lyle has been on the Resurrection staff since 2006. She serves as the Program Director for Local Impact Ministries, concentrating on Education, Life Skills and Youth Focused Ministries.
Throughout the gospels Jesus shows his heart for the downtrodden and outcasts of society. During Biblical times, tax collectors had reputations of being selfish, greedy and dishonest but Jesus chooses Matthew, a tax collector to be one of his closest friends and followers. Today's story moves quickly. One moment Jesus is calling to Matthew to "follow me" and the next they are together at a festive feast with a group of Matthew's friends and colleagues. Maybe this was a farewell dinner for Matthew, whose life was about to change in ways he couldn't imagine as he followed Jesus on the road and his friends were there to wish him well. But that isn't how the Pharisees saw the event. I imagine the Pharisees hovering outside the door to Matthew's house, hearing the sound of many voices and laughter and tsk-tsking about Jesus and how bad it looked for him to seek out and spend time with such low characters.
I hope I would not have been standing outside with the Pharisees, gossiping and looking for shortcomings where there were none. Instead, I hope I would be one of those sitting around the table with Matthew and the others at that dinner. I hope I would recognize myself among the sinners gathered there, as someone who tries to be open to hearing God's nudging and following His will but who many times misses the mark quite a bit. While the Pharisees saw a Rabbi who was lowering himself by associating with sinners, I am sure those who ate with Jesus came away blessed by his attitude of mercy and grace. We know the experience changed Matthew's life forever.
When I humble myself and recognize that my sins are no better or worse than the taxpayers and sinners in today's scripture I open myself to Jesus' healing power and find it easier to be a better follower and a little better person that day.
-------
"Tears (of joy) at a supper celebrated Jesus' forgiveness"
Tuesday, 8 August 2017
Luke 7:36-48
-------
Jesus didn’t write off the Pharisees and religious leaders of his day. He knew that they, too, were sinners, and he accepted invitations to eat with them. But Simon the Pharisee took it as a given that a good person would shun sinners, that Jesus must not know anything about this “sinner” at his feet. But he was wrong—Jesus knew all about the woman’s heart, and about Simon’s. This story had an unseen “prequel.” Verse 47 made it plain that this was not the first time Jesus met this woman, and gave a clear idea of how he’d already extended grace to her.
• Scholar William Barclay wrote, “For a Jewish woman to appear with hair unbound was an act of the gravest immodesty…. The fact that this woman loosed her long hair in public showed how she had forgotten everyone except Jesus.” * Do you believe her tears were more likely a sign of sadness or joy? Have you ever sensed that you limit your expression of love and gratitude to Jesus out of a fear about “how it will look”?
• Reflect prayerfully on the story Jesus told Simon. Do you more often see Jesus as forgiving much for you, or just forgiving a few little missteps here and there? Does that affect the ways you relate to others when they need forgiveness? How does your sense of how much or little God has forgiven you affect your love and joyful gratitude to God?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I realize that like both people with Jesus in Luke’s scene, I owe a debt I couldn’t possibly pay. Keep me rejoicing in your forgiveness, and forgiving others. Amen.
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke. Revised edition. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 95).
-------
-------
"Another festive meal for Jesus and an outcast 'sinner'”
Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Luke 19:1-10
-------
Jesus openly bucked social boundaries by saying, “Zacchaeus, come down—I must stay in your home today.” He offered this outcast a personal friendship, and made it real by sharing his hospitality. He told the grumbling crowd (many of whom Zacchaeus had probably cheated) that he “came to seek and save the lost.” Zacchaeus showed a profound heart change, one that no doubt paid back money to many who had grumbled about Jesus going to be “the guest of a sinner.”
• Was Zacchaeus more of a “success,” a wealthier man, at the start of this story, or at its end? You know the answer you’re “supposed” to give. But honestly, how do you define your own “wealth” and “success”? Would you ever even consider giving up as much as Zacchaeus did if that was what it took to have Jesus as your friend and Lord?
• Zacchaeus was so eager to learn more about Jesus that as a wealthy public citizen he climbed a tree to offset his shortness. Jesus was so eager to reach Zacchaeus that he very publicly invited himself to a meal at the house of one of the most despised “sinners” in town. What parts of your social dignity and status are you willing to lay aside to “see” Jesus more fully, or to reach others with Jesus' love?
Prayer: Lord, thank you that even as I seek you, you have been seeking me as you sought Zacchaeus. When I feel “outcast,” remind me that I’m always an “insider” with you. Amen.
-------
-------
"A sinner and songs of praise at the Last Supper"
Thursday, 10 August 2017
Luke 22:14-21, Mark 14:22-26
-------
The Passover Supper annually recalled God’s great liberating act in Egypt to set Israel free from slavery. It was central to their faith. The night before his crucifixion, Jesus shared the Passover with his disciples. Jesus added meaning to the meal as a way of remembering his giving of his body and blood to save them (and us). But Jesus didn’t limit that meal to “good” people, either—Judas was there. And it wasn’t somber and downcast, as we sometimes imagine. Mark noted that at the end, they sang “songs of praise.”
• Practical issues and centuries of Christian tradition may make it hard for you to think of the Lord’s Supper as a “meal.” But when you take part, imagine a great meal, with Jesus as the host offering you and all those around the table the bread and wine. How might a sense of the Supper’s “meal-ness” create closer bonds between you and those who share the meal with you? How might it help you celebrate Jesus' generous forgiveness?
• Imagine—Judas at the Last Supper, taking the first Communion! Scholar William Barclay wrote poignantly, “Jesus Christ has at every communion table those who betray him, for if in his house we pledge ourselves to him and then by our lives go out to deny him, we too are traitors to him.” * What made the difference between Judas and the other 11 flawed, fallible disciples? How can you, even when you fail, live as a loyal disciple of Christ?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for welcoming me at what the psalmist called the table you spread before me in the presence of my enemies. Keep me humble and grateful for the privilege of being your supper guest. Amen.
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke. Revised edition. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 267).
-------
-------
"Eating with understanding with one another, and with Jesus"
Friday, 11 August 2017
1 Corinthians 11:23-29, Revelation 2:7, 17; 3:20
-------
1 Corinthians 11 was the Bible’s first account of the Lord’s Supper. Some Christians held to Greek feasting mores, which stressed social rank (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:20-22). Paul said they failed to “understand the body.” No matter their social rank they were equal in Christ’s church family. The seer of Revelation, in messages to his seven-church circuit, wove in food images like the Garden of Eden’s Tree of Life and hidden manna, Israel’s wilderness food. In the seventh message, Jesus said, “If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me.”
• Revelation 3:20 began, “Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking.” What does it take for you to open that door in your heart? Knowing how it might change your life, can you find the courage and faith to accept Christ’s offer to stay in your home and your heart today and always? How can you make every meal you eat a communion, a celebration of Jesus’ grace?
• Sometimes people misunderstand 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, and load the Eucharist with guilt. (Have you ever heard something like, “It was YOUR sins that put Jesus on the cross”?) The real point to understand was that the communion table was (and is) a place where we are all sinners, and all rejoice in God’s forgiveness and acceptance. In what ways can you help yourself bring a spirit of joy and gratitude to communion, rather than guilt?
Prayer: Lord God, please make my heart, and my home, YOUR home. Dwell in me, cleansing, energizing, and transforming me into the person you want me to be. Amen.
-------
-------
“Every meal a celebration”
Saturday, 12 August 2017
Acts 2:41-47
-------
In one day, the Christian church in Jerusalem went from about 120 members (cf. Acts 1:15) to roughly 3,120 members! How did they nurture those new believers? We tend to focus on the apostles’ teaching, on prayer, on generous giving—all key. But we often skip over one facet of their spiritual growth so telling Luke named it twice. They “shared meals” (verse 42) and “shared food with gladness and simplicity” (verse 46). This was so vital that writing in Acts 27 about Paul urging shipwreck survivors to eat, Luke used Lord’s Supper language: “he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, then broke it” (cf. Acts 27:33-36). The Message rendered Acts 2:46 as, “They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God.”
• The word “Eucharist” is an English version of the Greek eucharisteo, which meant “to be grateful, feel thankful, give thanks.” We don’t have to wait for a church service to experience that kind of joy and gratitude. Preacher and writer Brennan Manning said, “The ordinary meal-sharing of Jesus at home and on the road was Eucharist, and so should be the thousand meals that a family shares each year.” * How can you bring the joy of Christ’s forgiving grace into every meal you share with others? Conversely, how can you bring the joy and warmth of shared meals into every time you experience the communion service (the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist) at church?
Prayer: Lord God, I hunger, not just to feed my body, but my soul and the souls of others. Help me learn to combine the two, to bless and be blessed by others as we share meals. Amen.
* Brennan Manning, A Glimpse of Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003, p. 56.
Family Activity: During communion, we share a simple meal together and remember and give thanks for the life of Jesus. How can your family give of yourselves by sharing a meal with someone, in honor of Jesus and His love? Think of a person or a family who might be sad, lonely or outcast. Invite them to your home for a simple meal or suggest you meet at a park for a picnic. Take it a step further and visit a homeless shelter where meals are served. Volunteer to help serve meals and sit with the people who are present. By listening and caring, you will be honoring the presence of Christ for all people.
-------
-------
Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
•Amy Bible and family on the death of her father John Childs, 7/29
• Lisa Petree and family on the death of her father William “Bill” Chadd, 7/25
-------
You might also like
Or download this week's printable GPS.
-------
©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
-------
Or download this week's printable GPS.
-------
©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment