In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is constantly interacting with those the text refers to as “tax collectors and sinners”. Many of those times, Jesus is seated at a table, eating with them.

In this episode, Spencer and Jack look at the institution of the Lords Supper in Luke’s gospel narrative and connect the theme of Jesus eating with sinners to Jesus’ eating with Judas.

Music:
“Kid Kodi”
Blue Dot Sessions
www.sessions.blue

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Episode #56 – The Lord’s Supper: Part 5

Ministry to the Outcast

The theme connecting all these aspects of the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’ ministry in Luke’s Gospel is ministry to the outcast. 

Jesus’ Definition of His Ministry (Luke 4:18–19)

• “Good news to the poor”
• “Release to the captives”
• “Sight to the blind”
• Letting “the oppressed go free” 

Jesus’ Meals with Outcasts

• Tax collectors and sinners
• Levi
• Zacchaeus 

Jesus’ Predicts His Betrayal (Luke 22:21–22)

• In Matthew and Mark, this prediction comes before the Lord’s Supper, while Luke moves the scene to the end. 
• Luke also changes Judas’ hand being in “the bowl” to “at the table,” highlighting intimacy and table theme. 
• By moving the mention of Judas to the conclusion of the Supper, Luke leads the reader through this intimate scene of Jesus’ table fellowship with his disciples, incredibly intimate in light of the familial ties around the celebration of Passover, before introducing them to the betrayer who has been at the table the entire time. 

Jesus, then, institutes the Lord’s Supper while holding table fellowship with Judas, a sinner who has already decided to betray Jesus (22:3-6). The Lord’s Supper is the fullness of Jesus’ table fellowship with sinners.  There is no greater sinner in Luke’s Gospel than the one who decides to betray Jesus, and there is no greater scene of table fellowship than Jesus’ intimate gathering with the disciples where he breaks bread and pours out wine in a foreshadowing of his Passion. The presence of Judas at the Lord’s table solidifies Jesus’ acceptance of even betrayers at his table.

Questions to Consider

1. Is sin a reason to exclude? (1 Cor. 11:27-29; Judas in mind? “Unworthy manner”)
2. Is engaging/fellowship/spending time with someone always a support of their sins? 
3. Is it possible that our response to sin should not be exclusion, but an inclusion which allows them to experience Jesus?