Table Talk

One of the most interesting things about Jesus’ ministry is the he didn’t sit isolated from people.

He didn’t sit in his ivory tower wanting people to come to him.

Rather he was out and about with the people.

He did this in a variety of ways, but one of the key ways that Luke highlights this is through revealing to us that Jesus liked to eat.

He liked to be around people at a dinner table.

This is actually a pretty big theme throughout Luke’s Gospel account.

In fact, there have been books written about his very subject.

“Meals with Jesus” “The Hunger of Home”

In his book, “Eating Your Way Through Luke’s Gospel”, Robert Karris states, “In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”

Even Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel, Luke 7:34 “34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”

Food, and especially sharing a meal with others, was central to Jesus’ Ministry.

Sharing a meal with others is a blessing.

That’s one of the reasons that we have incorporated our monthly fellowship lunches here.

Eating together takes a sharing of ourselves.

A kind of vulnerability.

Opening our home means that we are inviting in people to our lives.

In 1st century, Judaism sharing a meal with someone meant that you identified with that person.

In fact, to the Pharisees of Jesus’ time they believed that sharing a meal together was spiritual fellowship.

One scholar writes: “In the East, even today, to invite a man to a meal was an honor. It was an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood, and forgiveness; in short, sharing a table meant sharing life. In Judaism in particular, table-fellowship means fellowship before God.”

And here’s the thing, Jesus in his coming shares meals with lots of people.

and this is going to cause some conflict with the religious elite.

We will see that later.

I want to give you a few examples of Jesus sharing meals with others.

In this morning’s text, Jesus shares a meal with Levi, the tax collector and his friends.

In 7:36-50, Jesus shares a meal with a pharisee and gets his feet washed by the woman with an alabaster jar of perfume.

In 11.37-54, Jesus again shares a meal with a pharisee.

In 22:10-38, Jesus has the last supper with his disciples.

And even post resurrection Luke 24, Jesus shares a meal with some of his disciples.

These are just a few of these scenes in Luke’s Gospel account.

Now Jesus wasn’t just a glutton going around looking for meals, but these meals all set the stage for his teaching.

It was through these meals that Jesus was able to relate some beautiful truths to those who would listen.

Jesus used the table as an opportunity to teach.

He had a captivated audience.

And as we’ve noted before, Jesus wants to relay the truth of the Kingdom of God to all.

So he doesn’t waste an opportunity.

In the dining scene we will examine this morning, Jesus relates that God’s Kingdom is open for all who believe.

No matter their sinful state. There is forgiveness found in Jesus.

Also, Jesus relays to those that oppose him that he is bringing about something new.

And that his presence with his disciples is a reason to celebrate.

Before we get to the meals with Jesus we must first be introduced to another one of his disciples.

His name is Levi.

In the other Gospels he goes by the name Matthew

Which I will admit can be a little confusing.

In Jesus day, many people had more than one name they were called.

Mostly because there were more than 2 languages spoken, especially for the Jewish people while they were under the rulership of Rome.

The disciples would have had a family name that most of their fellow Jews would call them.

Then they would have a Greek name that the Roman Officials would call them.

For Levi, his family name was Levi and his Greek name was Matthew.

Or at least that’s what the amount to when we translate them into English.

The opening scene we are going to look at this morning is Jesus calling Levi to follow him

But let’s first ask for the Lord’s guidance.

Luke 5:27–28 CSB

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him.

Follow Me

A few weeks ago, we talked about how Luke 5-6:11 is the picture of how Jesus’ calls his disciples to follow after him.

We saw him call Peter, James, and John off of the sea of Galilee to follow after him.

Normal fishermen who were called to a radically different life of pursuing Jesus.

Learning from him and becoming fishers of men.

And here we see something similar.

Jesus saw Levi and called out to him “Follow Me.”

These are the same words he used when talking to Pete, James and John.

The calling of Jesus is the same for all who will be his disciples. Follow Him.

Now the life styles of the fishermen in contrast with Levi, couldn’t have been more different.

Remember that one of the purposes of Luke’s gospel is that Jesus came to save sinners.

This included the outcasts and the downcast.

Those who would be viewed as unworthy to follow Jesus were those that he called.

I know that many of us have heard it before, but we really need to grasp how shocking it would have been for Jesus to call a tax collector to be his disciple.

It would have been scandalous.

In fact, for those in the religious community it would have cheapened Jesus’ preaching and teaching.

How could he be a man of God and let this person follow him.

Why would this be?

Levi as a tax collector would have been viewed as dishonest and abusive in his authority.

No body in their right mind would have wanted to be a tax collector b/c they were hated by all.

Jewish, Roman, rich, or poor. Nobody liked the tax man.

The tax collectors were responsible for just that, collecting taxes.

They were hired by the government to keep track of the people who in their area and collect money from them.

Now, I know that nobody likes the tax man here in America.

But the tax men during Jesus’ time were a little different.

The amount of money they made.

How they built up wealth was by over taxing the populous.

They had a set amount they were to take from the people, and anything that they gathered above that would simply line their own pockets.

Now we know the hearts of man.

What’s going to happen? Greed is going to rear its evil head and the tax collectors are going to charge way more than they are supposed to just so they can have an over inflated lifestyle.

Now, this wouldn’t be true for all the tax collectors, but it was true for enough of them that they were viewed as wicked and vile.

For Levi, add on top of being viewed as wicked and vile.

For his own Jewish brothers and sisters, he would have been seen as a traitor.

Later on in Luke 18, they are lumped into to the robbers, evil doers, and adulterers.

They couldn’t serve as witnesses in court b/c of their corruptness.

And they were thrown out of synagogues b/c of their job.

Tax collectors, although they had wealth, were still viewed as the lowest of the lows.

So just to have Levi associated with Jesus was going to sully his reputation for many of the religious elites.

But Levi the tax collector.

The sinner.

The one hated by everyone else, is exactly who Jesus came to save and set free.

Jesus’ call to Levi is the call to all disciples.

“Follow me”

Leave this world behind.

Leave the trappings of this world behind.

It doesn’t matter how corrupt you have been.

It doesn’t matter how much hatred people have for you.

It doesn’t matter how many sins you have committed.

The call to follow Jesus is open to even the most wicked and vile of sinners.

Honestly, we should identify with Levi.

We are all sinners of the worst kind.

None of us deserve to be invited to follow Jesus.

And yet he extends the invitation.

There we are like Levi, sitting in our sin.

Living a life that solely seeks to glorify myself.

And we are offered the invitation to follow Jesus.

And like Levi, instead of staying seated we have to rise up, leave everything behind and follow after him.

The things of this world are nothing compared to living a life in devotion to Jesus.

They will never satisfy.

The wealth, the fame, the desires of our hearts pale in comparison to knowing the beauty of Jesus.

There is nothing that this world has to offer that can provide for you the same life and purpose that Jesus offers.

Now, we have to recognize that Levi here leaves everything behind to follow Jesus.

As disciples, when we begin to follow Jesus, we can’t carry all the stuff with us.

We can’t have Jesus and our past life.

In a spiritual sense, Paul tells us that we have been made into a new creation.

The old is put to death and the new has come to life.

Following Jesus is a transformation.

Levi is breaking away from his old life and begins to follow Jesus.

This was a substantial sacrifice for Levi.

He was building wealth.

He was living comfortably.

And he left all that behind to follow a man who doesn’t have a place to lay his head.

For Peter, James, and John if this following Jesus didn’t work out they could always go back to fishing.

But if following Jesus didn’t work for Levi, he had no where else to turn.

He couldn’t go back to collecting taxes. He would have abandoned all that wealth and promise.

Levi’s life was going to be radically different in following Jesus.

and yet, “leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him.”v.28

Jesus publically calls this man that is rejected by his people.

Viewed as one of the worst people in society.

A social outcast, and he gives up everything to follow Jesus.

I love how Luke puts it here in v. 28, we don’t really see it in the English translations, but it’s what grammar nerds would call an “imperfect indicative”.

What it would literally translate to is “he got up and was following Jesus”

Meaning that this wasn’t Levi’s one time decision, but that he was consistently and constantly choosing to follow Jesus daily.

He was life was a continuous pattern of following Jesus.

That’s what being a disciple of Jesus looks like.

Continually following him.

Not a one time prayer, or a baptism.

But walking in the way of Jesus daily.

And that’s Jesus’ invitation to all who will believe.

It doesn’t matter how much pain you have caused.

It doesn’t matter the life that you have lived.

It doesn’t matter if you leave that life behind and follow him.

Jesus isn’t looking at you as who you were.

He sees you as he wants to make you.

No matter how scarred and ugly a sinner’s life may be, Christ can make it into something beautiful for God.

And if we truly believe that then it’s a reason to celebrate.

It’s a reason to rejoice.

That though we were enemies of God we have been made into his friend.

Though we were dead in our sins we have been made alive.

That’s some news worthy of celebrating.

That’s some news worth sharing.

And that’s what Levi does.

He throws a party and invites his friends to meet this man Jesus.

Luke 5:29–30 CSB

29 Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Pharisee Confrontation

At this party it’s apparent that there are both the friends of Levi and the Pharisees.

A large crowd of tax collectors.

So there isn’t just one outcast. One sinner.

One who doesn’t deserve the love of God, rather there are a multitude.

This leads to the Pharisees complaining.

What’s interesting here is that the word complaining could be better translated as “mumbling/grumbling/or murmuring”

Why this is significant is b/c this how the Greek translation of the OT talks about the Israelites in the book of Numbers when they are in the wilderness.

Always complaining even when God provided for them.

The have this same attitude toward Jesus, his new disciple and his friends.

Now I want to be far to the Pharisees for just a moment.

These men were tasked with keeping Israel pure.

They were the religious leaders who took responsibility for the spiritual state of their people.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The problem was they missed the mark with Jesus.

They didn’t understand his mission.

They were missing it when it came to Jesus.

Some of these Pharisees had seen Jesus’ power over sickness, over the demons.

They also witnessed his authority in telling the paralytic that his sins are forgiven and that he could get up and walk.

But they didn’t have a category for Jesus.

They didn’t know where to put him.

They had the understanding that to be holy and used by God it meant that they had to be completely separated from anyone and anything that could cause them to be unclean.

And they had good reason to believe so.

Leviticus 10:10 “You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean,”

So this is exactly what they were trying to do.

They wanted some distinction between them and the people that are “unclean” or “sinners”

Remember for the Pharisee’s sharing a meal with someone meant that you were in spiritual fellowship with them.

So the fact that Jesus was eating with these men caused the Pharisees to question his spiritual state.

They were questioning his morals.

Rather than seeing these men as people made in the image of God, they were cast off as others and were not worthy of God’s love.

Their sin was too wide a chasm for the Pharisees to even think about crossing.

Now one of the reasons I wanted to be a little fair towards the Pharisees earlier is b/c we can definitely be the same way.

It doesn’t take us too long to enter into the same type of mindset as these Pharisees.

If we are completely honest with ourselves there can be times when we believe that there are people who don’t deserve the love, grace, or presence of God.

And what do we base that on?

Usually our own preferences.

We forget that Jesus came to save sinners.

But instead of inviting sinners to join us in worshipping the King we want people to come to Jesus so that they look, act, and speak like us.

And if they don’t fit that mold, then they can’t come to the table.

For those of us who claim to follow Jesus, we need to take a good look at our own hearts.

Do we truly want to welcome all who will come.

The mentally unstable, the outwardly sinful, the poor.

The people with different skin color.

Political affiliation.

Those with face tattoos and piercings.

The homeless, the hurting, the broken.

Those who don’t fit into what our idea of a “Christian” should be.

Those who might be a little loud and obnoxious during service.

Are we going to be like Jesus in inviting all kinds of people, or do we want to be like the Pharisees being exclusive and only inviting those who fit into our understanding of who Jesus will save.

And the reason that we must take some time for self-examination, is that most of you would say you want everyone to come.

All are invited.

The problem is…have you invited them.

Or is the invitation just open?

B/c we can slyly create boundaries by simply not inviting people to the table.

We don’t have to be as outspoken or exclusive as the Pharisees.

Rather we can be secretly exclusive.

Being a follower of Jesus isn’t an exclusive club that only some people are invited to.

It is a lifestyle of humility and service that allows anyone who believes to be a part of it.

And it can be easy for us to forget where we come from.

That we were unworthy sinners who were saved by a gracious savior.

Let’s not use our current state with God to build a fence or wall around ourselves.

Rather, like Jesus, we should invite all people.

And when they come to faith we should be throwing a party for all who come to faith.

It’s something to celebrate.

I want us to take this to heart.

It’s important for us to remember the words of Jesus as he corrects these Pharisees.

Listen to what he says.

Luke 5:31–32 CSB

31 Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus Came for Sinners

I want us to notice that Jesus doesn’t push back against the Pharisee’s premise.

He is indeed eating and drinking with sinners.

He is with those who the Pharisees sees a less than.

However, what he does say is the climactic part of this interaction.

Jesus tells them exactly what he came to do.

He came to heal the sick.

And to save sinners.

From the Lips of Jesus we see his mission in these phrases.

This is one of Jesus’ great mission statements.

Jesus left the glory of heaven to heal those who are sick

and to call sinners to repentance.

Now it’s easy for these verses to be taken out of context.

Jesus is not saying that the Pharisees are righteous or that they aren’t sick.

What’s he’s doing is pointing to their spiritual condition.

They believe that they are righteous.

And Jesus doesn’t save the self-righteous unless they recognize their need for a savior.

The self-righteous have already justified themselves before God.

They don’t need saving b/c they believe they’ve got it all together.

But those who know their sick.

Those who recognize their sin.

Those are the ones that can be saved by Jesus.

B/c it is those who will go to Jesus and cry out for forgiveness.

In order to receive the treatment that Jesus offers, we must first accept his diagnosis.

He won’t save those that don’t think they need saving.

It’s not til we come to the point of brokenness.

To the point of recognizing our own sinful state that we can even approach Jesus and humbly ask for forgiveness.

Scripture is very clear on this matter.

We are all sinners.

We have all fallen short of God’s Glory.

Our actions have purchased the debt of death.

Now we can go around ignoring this reality, believing that we are right with God.

That we have obtained our own righteousness.

That we have it all together.

That our good works and actions will save us.

And if we do that, then we won’t recognize our need for a savior.

As long as we maintain our own righteousness, we will never see our need for a savior.

But if we have tried everything.

If we have put in the effort only to realize that we’ve fallen short and will continue to fall short.

Then we will humbly seek out the great physician who can heal and save us.

And Jesu tells us that what we need to do is repent.

We need to turn away from our own life.

We need to turn away from our own way of doing things.

We need to leave everything behind and follow after him.

The Pharisees saw salvation by segregation.

Be a part of their crew and you will be right with God as long as you don’t associate with the sinners.

Yet Jesus saw salvation by association.

If you come in contact with Jesus.

If you recognize your brokenness and sinfulness.

if you repent and turn to him then you will be saved.

If you belong to Jesus then you will be saved.

That’s the beauty of the gospel message.

You don’t have to clean yourself up to be saved.

You don’t have to scrub away all the mess.

Rather by associating with Jesus, his holiness alone cleanses you and forgives your sin.

Now what Jesus calls us to is not simply feeling sorry for our sin, but a complete transformation.

This is what repentance means.

Turning away from your sin and embracing a life of following Jesus.

Now one of the things that the Pharisees couldn’t wrap their minds around was how Jesus’ call to righteousness was so radically different from theirs.

So in the next section their going to address just that.

Luke 5:33–35 CSB

33 Then they said to him, “John’s disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but yours eat and drink.” 34 Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you? 35 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them—then they will fast in those days.”

Celebrate Jesus

In these verses, Jesus wants to tell the pharisees why his people don’t fast and pray like John’s disciples.

This is a time for celebration.

The Pharisees have once again confronted Jesus about how he is living his life and how his followers are imitating him.

The only one they can think to compare him with is his cousin John.

As we examine this I want us to remember what we said about John several weeks ago.

John was the last prophet of the OT period of God’s redemption story.

He was paving the way for Jesus’ mission and message.

So the bringing up of John here isn’t b/c the Pharisees necessarily opposed him, but that he did things similar to how they do things.

John’s disciples fasted and prayed.

One of the things we have to know about fasting, is that for the first century Jewish people, especially the Pharisees, this was an opportunity for them to demonstrate to the world their devotion to the Lord.

While fasting they would look gloomy.

They would put on a show so that people would see that they were suffering for God.

In fact, they would usually fast 2 days a week so they could, again demonstrate their separateness from the sinners.

They believed that in order to be spiritual they had to be unhappy and uncomfortable

And now Jesus steps on the scene and there is no fasting.

There is no gloom on his face or his disciples and this has the Pharisees perturbed.

Why don’t they fast like John and his disciples?

Jesus goes on to teach a parable about the wedding feast.

What is a wedding feast?

It’s a time to celebrate.

A time to rejoice.

A time for excitement and joy.

The coming of Jesus is like that.

They have much to rejoice in.

Jesus has come to save sinners.

He has come to redeem creation.

He has come to overcome sin and death.

And while he is with his followers, there should be so much rejoicing.

Now he does talk about there coming a time when there will be fasting.

Jesus is a little vague on what this time will look like.

some believe that it’s his death, crucifixion, and the days in the tomb.

Others believe he is speaking about the persecution of the church.

But regardless right now is not that time.

Jesus’ life and ministry is ushering in a new era.

An era of joy, hope, and peace.

An era of celebration.

So fasting isn’t what his followers should be doing.

Just a little critique of some who Follow Jesus.

We should be celebrating him all the time too.

We should be rejoicing at all times.

We have found life, forgiveness, and redemption in Jesus.

This is something to celebrate.

There are too many who claim to belong to Jesus that don’t have any fun.

They think that spirituality is seriousness all the time.

But if anyone has reason to celebrate and rejoice, it’s those who recognize that their sins have been forgiven.

We do know that there is a time for sorrow, a time for mourning, but most of our lives should be a time of rejoicing.

Our sins have been forgiven.

Our relationship with the Lord has been restored.

We have hope.

We have grace.

We have an inheritance.

We should be the most joyous people on the earth.

Our lives have been forever changed by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We were sick with sin and we have been healed.

We were dead in our trespasses, but we’ve been made alive.

We were enemies of God, but now we are Sons and daughters.

Get happy, rejoice.

Celebrate our salvation.

Jesus is alive and one day we will be with him.

To help the pharisees comprehend the New thing that Jesus is doing and why there is reason to celebrate he tells them a set of parables.

Luke 5:36–39 CSB

36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

A New Thing

Again Jesus’ goal in these parables is to help the Pharisees to see that he is bringing something new to the table.

Now I want to help us to understand what Jesus is saying when he talks about the new patch on old clothing and the new wine in old wineskins.

He is saying that the new thing and the old thing are not comparable with one another.

If you take a new garment and tear a patch from it to attach to the old garment.

When you wash the repaired garment the new is going to shrink and rip away from the old.

Now you have two wasted pieces of clothing.

The new destroyed b/c you added it to the old

And the old destroyed b/c the new patch had torn away from it.

If you have new wine an place it in old wineskins.

The wineskins will explode as the new wine ferments and expands.

So now you don’t have the wineskin or the wine.

Both are wasted and useless.

Jesus didn’t come to be a patchwork piece fix to the old way of doing things.

Jesus came to bring about a whole new thing.

But what the pharisees would want to do is hold tight to their old ways and only fill in the blanks with Jesus’ way.

They didn’t want the new way.

They wanted the old way somewhat updated.

That’s what Jesus’ rebuke is at the end of v. 39.

Luke 5:39 “39 And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.’ ””

Our instinct is to always want to keep around what we’ve always done and what we believe has always worked.

But Jesus is telling us and the Pharisees here that his way of doing things is incompatible with our old way of doing things.

The pharisees are saying “What I’ve always done is good for me b/c it seems to always work.”

What Jesus is saying is the system and what your doing doesn’t work and you need something else

This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

We don’t just add Jesus to our lives.

He isn’t an accessory that we attach just so we can move on.

He isn’t a patch.

When we come to Jesus, we are transformed.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

Jesus doesn’t want part of us, he wants all of us.

He wants us to fully submit to him.

B/c when we add just part of Christ’s new life to our old life, then we ruin both of them.

This is why Jesus tells us that if we want to follow after him, we must die to ourselves.

My life is not my own, I belong to the king of the universe.

We can’t have Jesus without fully giving up everything else.

If we want to be his disciple, then we must be willing to let go of the past and cling to Christ.

This is the hard part of being a Christian.

Because we are so comfortable with our past we find it impossible to let it go.

But if we want to follow after him everything else must be let go of.