Encountering Jesus At The Table AWS
Encountering Jesus At The Table - Luke 5:27-32 Today we gather together at the table! We call it celebrating communion! We will break bread and pass the cup, and we will partake of them together. We are often reminded of the “why” question, but what about the “who”?
A tax collector would’ve been the last person a Pharisee would have broken bread with, but it’s the first person Jesus chooses to do it with! Communing at a table with someone made a statement. It meant that the people around the table with you were acceptable in your eyes!
Who is really welcome at this table & by what criteria are they invited?
Pharisees regarded table fellowship with sinners as especially defiling, but Jesus, the righteous One, seemed unaltered by communing with these men!
Luke 5:27-32 is not the story of the “Last Supper”, where Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper (Communion), but it is the “First Supper” recorded in Luke between Jesus & His disciples, & this meal sheds light on not only who was welcome then at that first meal, but also who is welcome here today!
And just as a side note, did you notice Levi’s first response to following Jesus? He throws a party and invites all his friends & co-workers over to encounter Jesus too! There is much we can learn from that!
Who remembers high school lunch, the first time at camp, holiday meals? We are always looking for a place at the table, but what’s required for a reserved seat? What makes us worthy of a place around this table? Many of the people who were at the Last Supper with Jesus were also the people who were at the first Supper with Him. Just who were they? Did you catch what the Pharisees called them in Vs. 30 – “tax collectors and sinners!” These were not sinless, religious elite, socially influential people! They were sinners, religious rejects, socially despised outcasts! And if they were present at the table w/Jesus, then who couldn’t be? Just what was/is the criteria for a place at the table with Jesus then/now?
Jesus didn’t select the “cream of the crop”, He invited those who were willing to follow Him! The same is true today as well!
In Vs. 27 - Jesus calls Levi, a despised tax collector, to follow him, and Levi leaves everything behind & follows Him.
True encounters with Jesus leaves us wanting others to encounter Him too! So we can see, there is a place at the table for (1) anyone willing to follow Jesus, (2) even those rejected by many as sinners. Jesus came for this purpose! Vs. 31 – “Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners…” - Jesus Sinners were present at this first supper, they are present at the last supper, & sinners, redeemed by God, will be present at the eternal supper in heaven That brings us to 1 more critically important criteria for a place at the table.
Jesus reserves a spot at the table for those who come to Him through repentance! It is our RSVP!
Jesus came, Vs. 31, to call “sinners to repentance!” Do we see ourselves as sinners? If not we will not see our need to repent, and where there is no repentance, there is no reservation! Levi literally “repented” – he turned from his life of pursuing material fortune & he turned to a life of following Jesus. He traded earthly riches for heavenly ones
When Jesus calls, some follow, some refuse, & some wait to see what everyone else is going to do. Which one are you? Which one am I?
Repentance is not just being sorry for sin, it is turning from it & turning to Jesus!
Levi had a place at the table because he first made a place for Jesus at his!
Zacchaeus – Luke 19:1-10. Salvation came to his house that day, He was made a son of Abraham, he was given a seat at the table b/c repentance was a reality!
Jesus also invited those who the religious establishment rejected to have a place at His table! The same is also true today as well!
So who is welcome at this table? Repentant sinners who have chosen to follow Jesus! If that is you, like Levi, you have a place at this table, now & forever!
A tax collector would’ve been the last person a Pharisee would have broken bread with, but it’s the first person Jesus chooses to do it with! Communing at a table with someone made a statement. It meant that the people around the table with you were acceptable in your eyes!
Who is really welcome at this table & by what criteria are they invited?
Pharisees regarded table fellowship with sinners as especially defiling, but Jesus, the righteous One, seemed unaltered by communing with these men!
Luke 5:27-32 is not the story of the “Last Supper”, where Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper (Communion), but it is the “First Supper” recorded in Luke between Jesus & His disciples, & this meal sheds light on not only who was welcome then at that first meal, but also who is welcome here today!
And just as a side note, did you notice Levi’s first response to following Jesus? He throws a party and invites all his friends & co-workers over to encounter Jesus too! There is much we can learn from that!
Who remembers high school lunch, the first time at camp, holiday meals? We are always looking for a place at the table, but what’s required for a reserved seat? What makes us worthy of a place around this table? Many of the people who were at the Last Supper with Jesus were also the people who were at the first Supper with Him. Just who were they? Did you catch what the Pharisees called them in Vs. 30 – “tax collectors and sinners!” These were not sinless, religious elite, socially influential people! They were sinners, religious rejects, socially despised outcasts! And if they were present at the table w/Jesus, then who couldn’t be? Just what was/is the criteria for a place at the table with Jesus then/now?
Jesus didn’t select the “cream of the crop”, He invited those who were willing to follow Him! The same is true today as well!
In Vs. 27 - Jesus calls Levi, a despised tax collector, to follow him, and Levi leaves everything behind & follows Him.
True encounters with Jesus leaves us wanting others to encounter Him too! So we can see, there is a place at the table for (1) anyone willing to follow Jesus, (2) even those rejected by many as sinners. Jesus came for this purpose! Vs. 31 – “Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners…” - Jesus Sinners were present at this first supper, they are present at the last supper, & sinners, redeemed by God, will be present at the eternal supper in heaven That brings us to 1 more critically important criteria for a place at the table.
Jesus reserves a spot at the table for those who come to Him through repentance! It is our RSVP!
Jesus came, Vs. 31, to call “sinners to repentance!” Do we see ourselves as sinners? If not we will not see our need to repent, and where there is no repentance, there is no reservation! Levi literally “repented” – he turned from his life of pursuing material fortune & he turned to a life of following Jesus. He traded earthly riches for heavenly ones
When Jesus calls, some follow, some refuse, & some wait to see what everyone else is going to do. Which one are you? Which one am I?
Repentance is not just being sorry for sin, it is turning from it & turning to Jesus!
Levi had a place at the table because he first made a place for Jesus at his!
Zacchaeus – Luke 19:1-10. Salvation came to his house that day, He was made a son of Abraham, he was given a seat at the table b/c repentance was a reality!
Jesus also invited those who the religious establishment rejected to have a place at His table! The same is also true today as well!
So who is welcome at this table? Repentant sinners who have chosen to follow Jesus! If that is you, like Levi, you have a place at this table, now & forever!
