By Kevin Harris, Pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church of Dapto, NSW
Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
Matthew 9:11
The Pharisees critique our Saviour for welcoming sinners to sit with Him at meals. Twice in our Saviour’s response, I see indication that meal time was to Christ teaching time. He said, ‘They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick….I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’
Far from a party atmosphere, meals with the Master meant hearing entreaties to repent. People left the table convicted.
This reminds me of Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ‘And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.’
Oh the opportunities wasted over the years! Yes, meal times around the family table inevitably include small talk. But how I want to bring the conversation around to weightier matters. If Christ is my life, the centre of my affections and Lord of all to me, shouldn’t He naturally come up within the span of a mealtime?
Father, grant me wisdom to make every meal a holy time. May You be the Unseen Guest of Whom we speak much. Wake me to take opportunities as You did to nourish souls, especially those around my dinner table! I ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Kevin Harris is pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Dapto, located about 15 minutes south of Wollongong, NSW.