"Jesus Is the One Who Eats with Us" Mark 2: 13-17; Luke 9: 10-17

Back after a week off for a terrific Youth Sunday!

Focusing on Jesus' willingness and desire to share meals with people, and not just the disciples.  He was invited into the home of a Pharisee; he publicly ate with sinners and outcasts; he shared the Passover meal with his disciples and friends.  What made gathering around meals so important to Jesus?

I ran into quote from Winnie the Pooh "Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called” Quoted in Sports Illustrated, Steve rushin, “point After," p. 64 2/18/13; confirmed at  http://thinkexist.com/quotation/-well-said_pooh—what_i_like_best--and_then_he/345928.html;

In the Mark passage, the way Jesus is described as eating uses the Greek word for "reclined," which indicates that the home was probably a home where wealthy people who had eating pillows that they would lean back on while they ate lived.  

Tax collectors were viewed as unclean because they interacted so much with the Gentile Romans; they were seen as collaborators with the Roman government; Pharisees were an important group within Judaism, who were trying to revive religious observances and purity laws.

In Luke we see Jesus' concern that the people get fed and his demand that the disciples feed them.

Milton Brasher-cunningham, Keeping the Feast:  "What the gospel writers don't seem to skimp on are stories of Jesus eating.  Or at least stories of Jesus and food.  He eats, he feeds, he talks about food, he even calls himself the Bread of Life, and on the last night around the Table he wrapped it all up with a meal - The Meal - as the ultimate metaphor of what it means to be together" (14).

He also notes that "the difference between a good meal and a great meal is time -- how long we linger at the table -- whether it be a special occasion or a Sunday supper of leftovers" (75).

Also, "what puts the comfort in food is the chance to re-member one another, to put ourselves back together, to see our place in the big picture, to find in the midst of the free fall of our existence the truth of God's indefatigable tether of grace that holds us and holds on (104).

It reminds me that it's not just about the food.  It's about what eating together means.