Eating takes center stage in the text we look at this weekend, Mark 2:13–22. That fact alone makes it a text we can all relate to, doesn't it? When we have a meal with someone, we generally find that our relationship goes deeper. Business is put aside. Busy-ness wanes. We discover personal things about one another that we probably never get around to if we only work or play together. And, usually, when people see us eating with someone, they intuitively think that we must be with family members or close friends. Of course, in modern times, we have things like "business lunches"— gatherings intended to save time and accomplish things. However, even in those work sessions, most of us feel the need to talk about more-personal things too when food is involved.
It seems to me that God created the world in such a way that eating not only strengthens our physical bodies but deepens our relational beings. Because of that, as God crafted ways to keep the people of Israel distinct from those around them, he established careful dietary rules regulating many aspects of their mealtimes, including those with whom they could and could not eat. God's goal was to preserve this nation of people through whom the world's savior, the Messiah, would come. In addition, God called for times in which his people were to fast, to set aside days to refrain from eating food, in order to mourn for their sin and draw near to God.
These dietary and fasting laws were taken seriously by the religious leaders and teachers of the law in Jesus' day. Rightly so...until... Messiah came. The dietary rules were no longer necessary once the savior to whom they had pointed came. And, surely, it was no time to mourn when the savior was among them. It was a time to feast.
So, when Jesus came, he flaunted the dietary rules as he declared them to be no longer necessary. And, he called for his disciples to rejoice and follow him. There was to be no fasting when he was present with them.
What does this text say to us? I'll ask you to meditate on this question as we prepare to hear from this powerful part of Scripture. And, I hope that many people will go out to have lunch with someone new after the services are over.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor