God’s Hospitality
For Meditation
As you may know, Luke is the author of the book of Acts as well as the Gospel that bears his name. In many ways, he presents the book of Acts as “part 2” of the story of Jesus. In Part 2, Jesus is still the main protagonist of the story, but in this second part Jesus is acting through his Spirit-empowered church rather than through his physical incarnated body. So you would expect there to be a lot of continuity between Luke and Acts, between the work of Jesus and then the subsequent work of his church.
In the the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is frequently eating. One commentator notes that in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal, eating a meal, or coming from a meal. A chief criticism that Jesus’ critics leveled against him was “The Son of Man came eating and drinking” (Luke 7). Jesus was often criticized for eating with the wrong people, for sharing the table with those the religious establishment excluded. But for Jesus, the meal and the table was one of the primary places his new Kingdom community was being manifested.The table was the place where Jesus’ salvation was being embodied- a place of gracious hospitality for sinners.
So it’s not surprising that when the new church comes to birth at Pentecost in Acts 2, what do we find them immediately doing? Eating! Not only eating of course- they also studied the apostle’s teaching, worshipped and prayed. But Luke gives significant attention to the meals they shared together, and a number of important theological shifts occurred in the early church around the table. As we study the meals and feasting of the early church, we learn why eating together was such an important theological pillar of their life together, and why it must continue to be a central aspect of our life together today.
Acts 2:42-47
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.