Why did Jesus eat with so many people?

Sharing a meal meant acceptance and belonging. Jesus deliberately ate with tax collectors, sinners, and outcasts to come close to the very people the religious excluded. He was called 'a friend of publicans and sinners' (Matthew 11:19), and turned the table into a place of welcome, forgiveness, and grace.

What do the meals of Jesus teach us?

That God comes near before we are 'good enough,' that he cares about real needs including hunger, and that he makes himself known in the breaking of bread. From dinners with sinners to the Last Supper and breakfast on the shore, the table reveals a God who welcomes, feeds, forgives, and restores.

God chose the table

The Meals of Jesus

The meals of Jesus are among the most revealing scenes in the Gospels. Again and again he is found at the table, and almost always with the wrong people: tax collectors and sinners, a weeping woman, a hated little man, five thousand hungry strangers, his betrayer, and the friends who abandoned him. 'The Son of man came eating and drinking.' God chose the table, and every one of these meals is an open seat that still points to Christ.

“The Son of man came eating and drinking; and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.”Matthew 11:19

Each meal below has its own page: the scene, what the table means, and how a place is still set for you.

The Friend of SinnersDinner at Matthew's house · Matthew 9:10-13
The Woman Who Wept at the TableDinner at Simon the Pharisee's · Luke 7:36-50
Dinner With ZacchaeusThe guest who invited himself · Luke 19:1-10
Feeding the Five ThousandBread for the hungry crowd · Mark 6:30-44
The Last SupperThe table that became the cross · Luke 22:14-20
Known in the Breaking of BreadSupper at Emmaus · Luke 24:28-35
Breakfast on the ShoreThe risen Christ cooks for the ones who failed him · John 21:9-14

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The table is still set

Jesus is still the friend of sinners, still the host who welcomes the ones everyone else would seat at the back. You do not have to become presentable first; the whole point of every one of these meals is that he sat down with people before they had cleaned themselves up. The Living Bread is a quiet place to pull up a chair, read the Gospels, and pray, and discover that a place was set for you all along.

Meet JesusLiving Bread on the webiPhoneAndroidThe seven words from the crossThe emotions of Jesus

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Frequently asked questions

Why did Jesus eat with so many people?: Sharing a meal meant acceptance and belonging. Jesus deliberately ate with tax collectors, sinners, and outcasts to come close to the very people the religious excluded. He was called 'a friend of publicans and sinners' (Matthew 11:19), and turned the table into a place of welcome, forgiveness, and grace.
What do the meals of Jesus teach us?: That God comes near before we are 'good enough,' that he cares about real needs including hunger, and that he makes himself known in the breaking of bread. From dinners with sinners to the Last Supper and breakfast on the shore, the table reveals a God who welcomes, feeds, forgives, and restores.