Radical Welcome: Hospitality and Zacchaeus' Table

But maybe we can try a little thought experiment. I want you to think, I wonder who to you are the slimiest of sinners. The ones that hold this or that stance, who vote for him or her, who commit this or that wrong, or live this or that lifestyle, work in this or that job? What category of people do you find most off putting? I want you to just take a moment to think about that. Bring those people to mind. Now imagine pulling up on Jesus at a dinner party, laughing, surrounded by those kind of people. Can imagine yourself murmuring now how this would be disorienting, mumbling along to yourself and those around you, Jesus, I get it, but like him? Anyone but them. [01:04:23] (61 seconds)  #AnyoneButThem

How did Jesus walk people into the kingdom in a world often hostile to his message like ours is today? He broke bread. He shared stories. He offered presents and wisdom, asked good questions, and listened intently. He tended to people right where they were at and would sometimes say, come and follow me. You are invited. You are desired in my kingdom and my new family that I am forming today. Jesus saw the table as a primary place of welcome and encounter for the stranger, not just for friends, not just for the family of God, but for the stranger, for the outsider. They were not boundary markers, but a sign of God's great love for Jesus, not a way to keep people out, but invite people in. [01:09:48] (47 seconds)  #TableOfWelcome

So we have to ask the question, why would Jesus do this? Something seemingly so offensive, disorienting, and reckless to his reputation. Well, in the next line, Luke actually gives us an answer, a revelation about Jesus, his kingdom, and his mission that is sprinkled all throughout the gospel. In verse 10, we see, for the son of man came to seek and save the lost. The son of man came to seek and save the lost. This one line is monumental in Luke's gospel narrative, coming as one of his last statements before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his last days before crucifixion. [01:05:24] (41 seconds)  #SeekAndSave

But here in this passage and all throughout the gospels, Jesus tells us a different story, saying, I have come to seek and save the lost, to pursue and welcome with kindness and intent the overlooked, the outsider, those seemingly farthest away from God and his way. All throughout Luke's gospel, we see this posture of descent and servanthood from Jesus, God coming down to serve. Jesus offering his presence to those society would have deemed unworthy and unclean. Jesus saw Zacchaeus not primarily as unclean, but as a lost person needing to be found. Much more honoring language. He's lost, and he's looking for life in all the wrong places, seeking life in all the wrong places and all the wrong people. [01:07:09] (53 seconds)  #WelcomingTheOutsider

Because Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and one of his primary ways of doing that was a table. So I think we have to ask ourselves the question, who's at ours? What if we began to see our tables and homes as spaces where the kingdom could be furthered and the lost could be found, the same way Jesus did. Our tables begin to look more like Jesus' looked. What if we saw our tables and homes as altars repurposed for the father's welcome rhythmically? Little places of refuge across a lonely, hostile, divided, shallow city where people could experience the welcome, the satisfying love of Jesus. Be seen, sought out, listened to, felt allowed to chew on deeper questions, and entertain deeper longings than the one our society chases. [01:26:48] (51 seconds)  #TablesAsAltars

He was just passing through. This wasn't even his destination, and yet something significant was about to happen here. It's actually been shown that over 50% of miracles that happened in the New Testament were interruptions, times of passing through on a way to a different destination or going somewhere else. In our present culture of busyness, this phrase pertaining to Jesus' posture in life speaks volumes. We often love Jesus' intentionality and his mission and how much he did, but what about his striking interruptibility? I often find myself asking, do I have this same level of being able to be interrupted? [00:54:38] (44 seconds)  #BeInterruptible

Anthropologist Mary Douglas describes meals as boundary markers. They bring people together, but they also tear people apart and keep people apart. Even today, we mostly eat with those we see as family or close friends. In the first century Jewish world, a meal was never just a meal. It wasn't casual. It wasn't just about food. The table was considered sacred, social, and spiritual space. In other words, who you ate with communicated everything. Who belonged and who didn't? Who was clean? Who was unclean? Who was in and who was out? To share a meal with someone was to say, I see you, I accept you, I'm willing to be associated with you. [01:01:07] (44 seconds)  #MealsAsBoundaries

Luke actually tells us Jesus started another phrase with these same words. At a dinner with another unexpected dinner guest, the woman who runs in pours out her expensive perfume on his feet and begins to wash them earlier in Luke. But this time, the ending is different. It says, the son of man came eating and drinking. The author and theologian Tim Chester, in his book, A Meal with Jesus, points out how one how one phrase is a statement of mission and purpose, what Jesus did, and the other statement, his primary method or how he achieved that mission, how he did it, through eating and drinking. Mission, to seek and save the lost, one of his primary methods, eating and drinking. [01:08:33] (51 seconds)  #MealMission