Happy meals

I was reading in preparation for Sunday about all the meals Jesus enjoyed in the Gospels particularly the account given by Luke. Whether Dr. Luke was just simply showing that Jesus was a Man concerned about nutrition is up for debate, but I would suggest that these meals are much more concerned with spiritual rather than physical health.

Take for example the meal at Levi's (Matthew's) house. Jesus's purpose is not to indulge for a night in a party with the sinners, to drink their wine and eat their grub, but rather to evangelize. He says as much when He says in chapter 5:27-39: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Meals also provide an opportunity for people to be reconciled to Jesus. The dinner at the house of Simon the Pharisee (chapter 7) provided an opportunity for the sinful woman to anoint the feet of Jesus with her tears and to have her sins forgiven. She was reconciled, not as a table guest, but as an uninvited character who needed the healing only Jesus could provide.

Check back later for part two of "Happy Meals."

Special thanks to Professor John Mark Hicks for compiling much of this info into helpful charts on his blog at http://johnmarkhicks.wordpress.com