More than meals

A List of some of the Table-Fellowship Incidents in Jesus’ Ministry

Category A – Jesus uses meals to reconfigure kinship relations

Category B – Jesus disregards a person’s status during a meal

Category C – Jesus disregards purity rituals involved in meals

INCIDENT                                                  CAT.              MATTHEW          MARK          LUKE          JOHN

Woman at the Well                                  A                     -                            -                      -              4:5-9,31-34

Banquet at Levi’s House                          A                     9:10-17           2:15-22          5:29-39                -

Picking Grain on the Sabbath                 C                     12:1-8              2:23-28          6:1-5                    -

Sinful Woman at Simon’s                        B                     -                        -                      7:36-50                -

Too Busy To Eat; Family Comes             A                     -                        3:20-21             -                          -

Feeding the 5,000                                    A                    14:15-21           6:35-44           9:12-17      6:4-13

Eating with Unwashed Hands               C                     15:1-20             7:1-23              -                          -

Syro-Phoenician Woman                       A                     15:21-28           7:24-30            -                         -

Feeding the 4,000                                   A                     15:32-38            8:1-9a             -                          -

Mary & Martha                                       B                     -                                -                  10:38-40            -

Prominent Pharisee/Dropsy                 B                     -                                -                  14:1-14              -

He Eats with Sinners                              A                     -                                -                  15:1-2                 -

Zacchaeus                                                A                     -                                -                  19:1-10                -

When we eat at a local restaurant we are typically not concerned about where we are seated. Restaurants often have a mix of races, social-economic groups and political ideologies all seated near one another. There is no separation for these classifications. Further we would find it odd if someone suggested that by eating near other people of a different ethnicity or political ideology was some how a negative reflection on our values or family traditions. In Jesus day who you ate with was a BIG deal. In Jesus day the food you ate and who you ate it with defined who you were, what you valued and who you consider family. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell us about some of the meals Jesus had with other people. By telling us these stories about Jesus the Gospel writers are doing more then simply telling us cute little stories. They are attempting to communicate to us that this is what it looks like when the Kingdom of God arrives on earth and the kind of life disciples are to embody.

The Gospel writers are telling us that Jesus used meals as a means of disrupting social values and overturning normal standards of behavior and honor. Jesus used meals to reconfigure who he considered his true kin. Rather than capitulating to his family’s request to see him, he created a fictive family around the table based on one’s devotion to hearing and obeying God’s word. This was never clearer than at the Last Supper.“Jesus’ open table fellowship was a strategy used to challenge social and religious exclusivism wherever it was accepted as normal or officially sanctioned” (Neyrey,361-387). Because he ate with all class of “sinners” he offended the sensibilities of the religious elite. Jesus refused to perpetuate religious traditions about washing, fasting, and Sabbath regulations. This was more than a faux pas. This was an assault on a religious system that prioritized rules above people. Finally, when invited by prominent teachers, Jesus often offended both the host and the guests by pointing out their misguided priorities. Moreover, he often honored some sinner who happened on the scene. He turned the tables of social rank upside down at these banquets. Use the resources below for further study and reflection.

J. H. Neyrey, “Ceremonies in Luke-Acts: The Case of Meals and Table-Fellowship,” in The Social World of Luke-Acts: Models for Interpretation, ed. J. H. Neyrey (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991) 361-87.

J. H. Neyrey, “Reader’s Guide to Meals, Food and Table Fellowship in the N.T. http://www.nd.edu/~jneyrey1/meals.html. (November 29, 2001).

Hicks, John Mark. Come to the Table: Revisioning the Lord's Supper. Abilene TX: Leafwood Publishers, 2008.

Book Suggestion: Eats with Sinners: Reaching Hungry People Like Jesus Did by Arron Chambers

So who are you eating with? Eats with Sinners introduces a biblical model for building relationships like Jesus did, one meal (or cup of coffee) at a time.
• Each of the13 chapters concludes with a "Meal Plan," which contains questions and directives designed to give individual readers or small group members the opportunity for personal reflection and practical application of the principles outlined in each chapter.
• Fun sidebars scattered throughout the book feature recipes, meal traditions in Jesus' day, and case studies.