Are you comfortable around the downtrodden, the outcast, and the shunned? Are you okay keeping company with the societal lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, thieves, crippled, blind? Are you drawn to those by whom community elites are repulsed?
If our aim is to be like Jesus, we need to become a magnet for the destitute, the oppressed, the persecuted.
And as [Jesus] reclined at table in [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
– Mark 2:15-16, ESV
Jesus caught a lot of heat for the company he kept. The guardians of orthodoxy had a similar reaction to Jesus when he took up company with Zaccheaus.1 Like Levi (Matthew), Zaccheaus was considered a traitor, one who collaborated with the Roman occupiers by collecting tax revenue from his own people. Neither Levi nor Zaccheaus was considered by polite society to be good company.
But there is a much deeper offense here than just spending time with societal ne’er-do-wells. The offense given or taken by hanging around sinners was completely eclipsed by the greater offense here. Jesus spends time with sinners, yes. But far worse than that, he eats with them.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
– Luke 15:1-2, ESV
Sharing a Meal
To the first-century, Middle Eastern mind, the activities of “receiving” someone and “eating” with them are distinct. Each of them, in Jesus’ case is a self-contained offense and each carries its own implications to which the religious elites were objecting.
Even today in this culture, sharing a meal bonds the participants. It is an indicator of acceptance and, at times, approval of the person with whom one is dining. It can extend so far as an informal endorsement of them. Because of this reality, people in Jesus’ culture gave great care to choosing with whom they did and did not dine.
Look at the strength of this admonition from the apostle Paul when he addressed a horrific situation in the Corinthian church wherein a man was sexually involved with his step-mother. Paul exhorted them not to associate with those “who wear the name of Christ,” but who live unworthily of that name. Paul, then, emphasized this instruction saying, “Do not even eat with such a one”2 because that shared meal carries a widely understood message of acceptance and approval.
When Jesus was invited to the home of Simon the Pharisee3, Simon was saying to Jesus, “I view you as my equal. Come dine in my home and teach my guests.” I don’t believe for a moment that Simon’s gesture was sincere, but this is the message it sent, and for Jesus to accept that invitation was a similar nonverbal statement toward Simon.
The Marriage Supper
Why does any of this matter?
First, it’s just cool stuff to know. Beyond that, it helps us understand the words and reactions we see and hear in biblical events. And finally, it’s enlightening to ponder the implications. Here is the core reason I wanted you to be thinking along those lines today. Check out this passage.
And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out:
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give Him the glory.
For the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
She was given clothing of fine linen,
bright and pure.”
For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints.
Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
– Revelation 19:6-10, ESV
In John’s vision, he is seeing and hearing the heavenly multitudes praising God, because the marriage supper, or wedding feast of the Lamb of God, is about to begin. And the key take-away for this, my friends, is that you—bride of Christ—will be at that feast.
Bearing in mind, again, how much care and caution is given to who is and is not invited to share a meal, you have an invitation not just to a regular meal. You have a seat at the marriage feast of the Lamb.
Weddings
Weddings in Jesus’ world followed a predictable ritual beginning with the marriage agreement between the parents, generally arranged by the fathers. Any number of societal, political, or economic drivers influenced these marriage contracts. This involved a “mohar,” a purchase price for the bride.
Following this arrangement, two ceremonies followed, the first of which is “erusin,” a betrothal, what we might call an engagement. With this betrothal, the couple is legally married, but the woman remains in her father’s house for now. This was the situation when Mary was found to be with child.4
The final event, the “nissuin,” usually occurring much later, involved the bridegroom coming for his bride. Accompanied by his friends, and at a time of which the bride was vaguely aware, he would come for her and bring her into his father’s house. If this occurred at night, it would involve something of a lighted parade. This is the custom spoken of in Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins and their lamps.5
Upon the arrival of the bride, groom, and all the parade attendants, the wedding feast could begin. This feast generally ran for days, which explains how the family of Cana in John’s gospel ran out of wine at their wedding feast.6
The Parallels
The betrothal has happened. Jesus, the bridegroom has engaged the contract and purchased his bride, the church. The price has been paid by the father of the groom, God the Father giving the lifeblood of his Son as the purchase price. As the church, the body of Christ, we live on earth in the betrothed state and like the ten virgins, we anxiously await the coming of the bridegroom to fetch his bride. We keep our lamps lit so we are ready for the lighted parade from our home to his home.
And then we feast.
The Jesus who was slandered as one who “receives sinners, and eats with them” has now died for and purchased sinners, has made them into adopted sons and daughters of his Father, and soon he will feast with us.
Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
– Revelation 19:9, ESV
That’s you, Christ-follower.
Blessings upon you, my friends.
Victoriously in Christ!
– damon
DamonJGray.org
X – @DamonJGray
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1. Book 8:44
2. 1 Corinthians 5:11
3. Luke 7:36-50
4. Matthew 1:18, Luke 2:5
5. Matthew 25:1–13
6. John 2:1–2
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