No One Else to Eat With

Imitating Jesus who dined with sinners

01/18/2025

Mark 2:13-17 Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed Jesus. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

One of the most paradigmatic actions of Jesus was to sit down to supper with sinners. Supper with sinners was paradigmatic because it was our Lord’s most consistent and consequential action. We hear a perfect example of this supper with sinners in the gospel today when Jesus dines with Levi, the tax-collector.

I would like to elaborate on 3 implications of Jesus’ most characteristic behavior for us Christians, that is, our lives should be marked by supper with sinners, too. Why? Well, the most sound rule of thumb for a follower of Christ is “imitatio Christi” “the imitation of Christ” or as we like to say today, “WWJD” – What would Jesus do?

George MacDonald applied this principle to suffering rather than to suppering, saying: “The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not have to suffer, but that their suffering might be like his.” So, here are three implications not of "suffering like Jesus" but of "suppering like Jesus."

First of all, Jesus always and only had supper with sinners. There was no one else to eat with! Whether Jesus was having breakfast in Nazareth with his foster-father Joseph (Mother Mary was the only sinless one at Jesus’ table), or letting his hair down during a loving supper at Martha and Mary’s home in Bethany, or a long supper with short Zacchaeus, or even the Last Supper with his apostles, Jesus inevitably sat down to supper with sinners.

Supper with sinners was not only ever paradigmatic, but it was all that was ever possible. So, when the Pharisees complain in the gospel today and ask his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” the disciples should have answered smartly: “Well, there is no one else to eat with!”

In other words, Jesus alone is the Holy One of God – which even the unclean spirits acknowledged – and everyone else he broke bread with were the unholy ones of God. Jesus was always and only suppering with sinners.

A second implication of Jesus’ paradigmatic action is that Jesus is still sitting down to supper with sinners today, and we call that supper the Eucharist. What do you think is happening right now at this Mass with you and me present with Jesus sharing Bread and Wine? Exactly what happened in the gospel reading today: Jesus is having supper with sinners.

Someone sent me this meme and it captures how Jesus suppers with sinners. It read: “If you’re having sex before marriage, go to church anyway. If you are a drug addict and trying to beat addiction, go to church anyway. If you were drunk all night the night before, go to church anyway. If you aren’t sure what gender you are, go to church anyway. If you can’t quit that disgusting habit, go to church anyway.”

It concluded: “Church is a hospital for the broken, the lost, the empty, the confused, the desperate, and the rejected.” Now, clearly, if you are not in the state of grace you should not receive Holy Communion. Nonetheless, you should go to church anyway. Why? Because Jesus doesn’t have anyone else to eat with.

A third implication of Jesus’ paradigmatic behavior of suppering with sinners is to look carefully at those we sit down to dine with at home. When you break bread with others, who is sitting across the table from you? Are they always people who look like you, think like you, act like you, dress like you, believe like you, talk like you, etc.

In short, are they the “saints” just like we like to think we are the “saints"? Do we try, therefore, not to invite the awkward uncle, the alcoholic aunt, the grandmother with dementia who always makes a scene? Like Jesus today, do we welcome so-called “sinners” and dine with them?

A few years ago when they opened Hope Campus, our church staff went to prepare a supper for the homeless. We cooked the food as per the instructions of the chef, we smiled and served the food as the homeless passed by with their trays, and we cleaned up the pots and pans before we left.

But we did not sit down to supper with them. What we did was great, no doubt, but I also think we missed a golden opportunity of grace, namely, to imitate Jesus’ paradigmatic behavior of suppering with sinners. Why? Well, because quite frankly, there is no one else to eat with.

Praised be Jesus Christ!