It would be impossible to overestimate the impact these meals have had upon the poor and the sinners. By accepting them as friends and equals Jesus had taken away their shame, humiliation and guilt. By showing them that they mattered to him as people he gave them a sense of dignity and released them from their old captivity. The physical contact which he must have had with them at table (John 13:25) and which he obviously never dreamed of disallowing (Luke 7:38-39) must have made them feel clean and acceptable. Moreover because Jesus was looked upon as a man of God and a prophet, they would have interpreted his gesture of friendship as God's approval of them. They were now acceptable to God. Their sinfulness, ignorance and uncleanness had been overlooked and were no longer being held against them.
Through table-fellowship Jesus ritually acted out his insight into the Father's indiscriminate love-a love that causes his sun to rise on bad people as well as good, and his rain to fall on the honest and the dishonest alike (Matt. 5:45). The inclusion of sinners in the community of salvation, achieved in table-fellowship, is the most dramatic expression of the message of the redeeming love of the merciful God. -Brennan Manning in A Glimpse of Jesus
Painting is Cornfield by Moonlight - Samuel Palmer
2 comments:
jeremy- i just finished Velvet Elvis per brad and sarah's recommendations. Holy cow man...maybe you remember their blogs about it(if not and u want a synopsis, read theirs) or maybe you've heard about it at church. dude. it's crazyinsane how he brings things up and i thought "how have i NEVER heard that before?" anyways, if someone would've told me you had written it, i would've believed them. there are some parts that i'm not crazy about but all the cool parts make up for it. i mean, i hear having a FT job and a family and all takes up a bit of your time but i soo hope you and jen and whoever else will read this. he touches on your "accepted" post.
also, that is what i thought of when i attended the church i went to the last year and 1/2 of harding. "these are the ppl Jesus ate with..."
Let me say that in my opinion to salvate sinners was the the principal objetive of Jesus.
I came to this blog searching the painting "Cornfield..." that ilustrate the cover of a novel of Alberto Laiseca, an argentinian writer, called "Beber en rojo" (aka "Drink in red"). I recommend this reading.
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