I recently hosted a dinner party with lots of fun people, tasty food, enjoyable conversation and great laughter! Perhaps this experience was kind of like the dinners that Jesus had with His friends and followers when He lived on earth. In last week’s blog, we looked at Jesus’ dinners with religious folk and observed some helpful takeaways.
In this week’s blog, we’re looking at Jesus’ meals with regular people, His close followers and friendships that bloomed into deep connections. As we look at these dinners, we can think about the food and also conversations with Jesus that were had around the table.
For starters, let’s look at Jesus’ last supper with His closest followers. This was the upper room meal just before He went to Gethsemane and was betrayed by Judas. Since this was a Passover meal, the menu included unleavened bread (matzah), bitter herbs (endive, sorrel, chicory, etc.), lamb and dates. There are definitely some tasty elements in this meal!
As for Jesus’ conversation during this meal, He was trying to prepare His disciples for the impending crisis with His arrest, crucifixion, death and resurrection. During the meal, He also warned Peter that he was going to deny Jesus three times, and He pointed out that Judas was going to betray Him. Finally, and maybe the most powerful experience for everyone at this meal, was Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. It’s clear that this was a very humbling experience, and Jesus taught that following Him would also mean washing the feet of others, being a servant and living in the posture of humility. It’s clear that this last meal with Jesus was heavy with purpose and connection!
In a different dinner with Jesus that we read about at the end of Luke 10, we meet Martha and Mary, who were two sisters with very different values. Both sisters had some wonderful characteristics, which became center points for the dialogue with Jesus. As for Martha, she was busy getting the meal ready and stressed out about having to shoulder all of the responsibility. The wonderful characteristic that Martha had was her high level of responsibility and achievement. On the other side, Mary wasn’t helping Martha, and that made Martha cranky—not such a great characteristic.
Instead, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet in student mode. This was Mary’s wonderful characteristic, prioritizing her attention on Jesus no matter what was happening around her. To this end, Jesus applauded Mary’s priority to stay at His feet, and He challenged Martha to recalibrate her values to keep the main thing, Jesus, as her one thing. I’m always very challenged by Jesus’ reply to Mary, which we read in Luke 10:41-42, “But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’”
As we think about the idea of having dinner with Jesus, let’s pay attention to the things that are important to Him. From His last supper with His disciples, and probably His first meal with Martha and Mary, we can see that Jesus values humility, honesty, authentic connection and time. Let’s be mindful of Jesus’ priorities and equally upgrade our intimacy and connection with Him!
