Christmas at the TableSample

TABLE STORIES | The Story of the Despised: Matthew

Delving into Christmas at the table, we want to listen in on the table conversations of individuals talking about Jesus. Answering the questions: What does Christmas mean to you? We celebrate the birth of Christ because... What would your answer be if you were to answer that question right now? He brought peace, freedom from sin, forgiveness, healing, eternal life, and restoration with the Father. This is your Jesus-story to share this Christmas.

This week's table story is from Levi (Matthew), a tax collector that became a disciple of Jesus after a meal. Imagine what that conversation would have been like, Jesus sitting with a group of tax collectors. The most hated people in Judea besides the Romans themselves, and not only did he speak with them but had a meal with them.

The table was a place of acceptance; when you accepted an invitation to eat with someone, it was an endorsement of friendship. The pharisee's in this story are not angry that Jesus is eating. It is who he is eating with. As regards Jesus' own eating customs, his choice of table companions, his disregard for washing rites preceding meals, and his unconcern for tithed bread all provoke controversy among alternate religious reformers.

Additionally, the table fellowship was of tremendous significance in first-century Mediterranean cultures. Being invited to a meal signified deep friendship, intimacy, and unity. In Jesus' day, Jews rarely dined with Gentiles. Yet here is Jesus, extending grace and friendship to social outcasts through a meal. Look at the Galatians, where Peter moves away from dining with the Gentiles because the elders from James' church arrived.

Suppose you asked Matthew what he is grateful for at Christmas. In that case, you can imagine this man who has despised remembering the table moment when Jesus restored Matthew in love and acceptance, going from despised to a disciple.

Scripture:

"Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,”Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them,“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” - Mark 2:13-17

Prayer Point: Lord, we celebrate the story of Matthew this week and his journey from being hated, an outcast, and despised to being loved and accepted as one of the 12 disciples. Thank you, Lord, that this Christmas we would find those who feel despised on the outer and bring them to our table so we can love them and share the hope that you redeem any situation just like you did Matthew.