Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, lived an ascetic life in the wilderness, subsisting on locusts and wild honey. “He went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (
Luke 3：3﹚
Jesus’ lifestyle was the opposite of John’s. He was always in the midst of crowds and often ate in the homes of tax collectors and sinners. When the pious Jews saw this, they criticized Jesus as a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”. (
Matthew 11：19﹚
In fact, a meal with friends is a very common everyday experience, and Jesus used it as a way of expressing the reality of God’s participation in humanity.
The Gospel of Luke records Jesus having meals with people more than a dozen times. One of these is a description of the return of the prodigal son to his father’s house, whereas the father, in total disregard of his past, ordered his servants to prepare a feast for the return of his son, to cook a fattened calf, to dress him in the finest robe, to play music and dance, and to celebrate the resurrection of his son from the dead and the restoration of his life. However, the eldest son did not want to participate in the feast (
Luke 15：22-28﹚
Luke’s account of Jesus’ meal also recounts the reactions at others time, e.g. the eldest son’s disgust at the feast of the return of the prodigal son. (
Luke 15：29﹚
On another occasion, after Jesus had called the tax collector Levi to follow him, he have meal at Levi’s house, the Pharisees and scribes were angry and criticized Jesus and his disciples for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. The tax collectors of the time were regarded as unpopular sinners because they often exploited the Jews and served the Romans. Notice that when Jesus called Levi, He did not accuse him for his sins, did not ask him to repent, and did not force him to return the money he had stolen to its owner. Jesus simply said: “Follow me!” And leaving everything behind, Levi got up and followed Him. (
Luke 5：27-28﹚
Luke uses the verb “to rise up”, the same verb used in the original text for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which means that Levi has been reborn again from sin. Levi later became a disciple of Jesus - St. Matthew. Jesus loved these “rise up” people and dine with them, much to the disgust of the self-professed zealous religious people, who were ashamed to be associated with tax collectors and sinners because they were evil and unclean and their company was contaminated. These religious aristocrats completely failed to understand that human purity does not come from doing penance or following the rules, but only those who are willing to “rise up” and follow Jesus are truly cleansed. Furthermore, Luke records that Jesus offered to stay at the house of Zacchaeus, the tax collector, and “when they saw him, they all whispered and said, ‘He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.’” (
Luke 19：7﹚
Indeed, many religions have traditionally held that a clean and sinless heart is the only way to reach a transcendent God; yet Jesus actively and unconditionally invites sinners. Once, when the Pharisees were fasting, someone came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast?” Jesus replied, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” (
Mark 2：18-19﹚
Jesus meant that when the bridegroom is present, everyone should celebrate and rejoice. If one wants to fast, they should wait before the bridegroom arrives or after the bridegroom leaves! Jesus did not observe the religious practice of the time, because Jesus knew clearly that “anything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile; but what comes out of a person, that is what defiles.” (
Mark 7：18，20﹚
Jesus’ feast proves that God loves to be with people. Although meals are a secular affair, if there is love and communion, God is present.
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Jesus never refused to dine with sinners, tax collectors, people who were not welcome, detestable people, discriminated people, neglected people, the Samaritans whom the Jews had no dealing with, (
John4：9﹚
the Pharisees (
Luke 7：36﹚
and even the Pharisee leaders, (
Luke 14：1﹚
Jesus talked to them and ate in their homes. At the Last Supper, Jesus invited Judas to attend and gave him a chance, knowing that Judas would betray him. Furthermore, Jesus was invited to the homes of women (Martha and Mary), who were considered to be of low status at the time, and received hospitality from them. (
Luke 10：38-39﹚
Jesus also allowed another Mary to anoint his feet with the most precious pure “nard” perfume and dried them with her hair. (
John 12：3﹚
Luke also records that when Jesus was seated in the house of the Pharisees, a woman who was recognized as a sinner in the city quietly stood behind Jesus, wept near his feet and wet it with tears, and dried them with her hair and kissed his feet fervently, this gesture has shocked the Pharisees present, as to why Jesus would accept this sinful woman’s actions. (
Luke 7：37-39﹚
Jesus did not follow traditional rules because that would have prevented him from reaching those who needed him. Jesus was more concerned with the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of people than with religious norms. What is even more astonishing is that Jesus could dine with anyone. But there were two groups of people Jesus never dine with: religious leaders and those in power. It was difficult for Jesus to associate with these two groups of people because they were often overbearing. For this reason, Jesus never used the terminology of the religious aristocracy and those in power to describe the face of God.
Jesus went out to preach, performed miracles, and healed the sick. His reputation spread far and wide, and he was recognized as the Messiah who would restore Israel. People were almost under the illusion that one breath from Jesus would restore Israel’s glory. Many prominent people entertained Jesus. “When he was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head.” (
Mark 14：3﹚
The people present were infuriated with her; but Jesus said: “Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me. .. She has done what she could. She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (
Mark 14：6-9﹚
Here, Jesus announced His death, which shattered the dreams of the crowd. God’s plan is different from what man imagines.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He still ate and drank with His disciples on many occasions, (
Acts 10：41﹚，
to prove that after His return to the Father, Jesus, in His transcendent realm, was still involved in the lives of ordinary people, to show that the transcendent Father is always with ordinary people. There is no other way to encounter God than sharing a meal with ordinary human. The Father, as revealed by Jesus, is very human. Although Jesus is transcendent, He always ate with His disciples and lived the lives of ordinary people. God is the God of life, and people celebrate life by feasting at the table. If the breaking of bread is described in terms of the concept of Jesus’ Supper, the breaking of bread is the sacrament for sinners. In the Eucharist, Jesus welcomes all those who have been rejected and discriminated against. Traditional religions believed that, access to God is only possible after cleansing, and hands must be washed and cleansed before eating. In the breaking of bread, Jesus turned Himself into bread and wine, the food and drink of human life, so that people could drink and eat together. The participants in this meal must learn to continue Jesus’ action of becoming food and drink for others. Whoever is willing to share in the food and drink becomes clean and can have access to God. The meal of the breaking of bread is never a prize for the righteous, and sinners do not have to be the righteous before they can receive it. Jesus never takes into account the condition of man, but seeks to give of Himself and to share the beauty and goodness of God with others.
Some religions, including the Old Testament, have many restrictions on food and gender. Eating and drinking are inherently important to people. According to Luke, a Pharisee and scribe questioned Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” (
Luke 5：33﹚
These religious leaders emphasized the importance of fasting, and have many restriction on food and gender. Jesus, on the other hand, used fasting to represent mourning or even death and not celebrating life. When the bridegroom was present at the wedding people should celebrate, and it was not possible to fast during this celebration and joyous time. The disciples ate and drank and feasted because they had found God. The traditions of the past are very different from the realities of the present, and social and religious organizations have also changed. Jesus therefore states that “new wine should be poured into fresh wineskins”. (
Mark 2：22﹚
Jesus is the new wine, if the new wine is put in the old wineskin, the new wine will swell and the old skin will be too stiff and burst. The new wine is creative, the old skins although they may give a sense of security, are stiff and unchanging and become the force that stifles the new wine and causes it to lose its life and creativity.
Jesus’ feast gatherings revealed the face of the Father. Another aspect of Jesus’ feasting can be seen in the fact that He did not observe the Jewish rule of eating and washing hands (
Mark 7：1-7﹚
and he had his views on purity and uncleanness. (
Mark 7：18-23﹚，
Supper is another pulpit for Jesus. On the surface, the feast gathering has nothing to do with religion, nor does it have conflict with it, but Jesus chose this pulpit to preach the deeper truths of God and to proclaim the depth of human life.
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When we arrive in an unfamiliar place and do not know the way around, we can meet our friends or attendants at the meeting point in the airport, where people of different nationalities gather and get ready for departure or continue with the journey. Taking this as an example, Jesus is the meeting point for man seeking God, and it is in this meeting point that one experiences the words: “God is love”. (
1 John 4：8﹚
“God is love” is the only definition of God. “God is love” is a love that connects people to each other. (
1 John 4：7﹚
In this love, one can feel the “Mysterious One”. In Jesus, the meeting point, one gains new strength and a new direction. Whether one is far away or close at hand, they are all my brothers and sisters. In contact with the Mysterious One, one can love all people, including enemies, those who curse us, and even those who persecute us. When filled with this power, all those who disagree, those who hate, those who are despised, can come together. In this love, there are priorities, first come the rejected and the weak. This love gives people the courage and strength to resist injustice in society. Jesus did not require everyone to be poor, but to be prudent, to know self-control, and to reject extravagance. As 2 Corinthians says: “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.” (
2 Corinthians 8：15﹚
It is extremely difficult to live out love, but God is that love. God is present in this love. Sometimes people believe in a god of power, a god of all things, and so they often ask God to protect them in their present situation. However, God is not the same as the gods of other religions, and these gods are not the same as the Father revealed by Jesus. The last chapter of John’s Gospel records a special gathering feast of Jesus with seven people, this small group of seven people including apostles, disciples and lay people who represented the early church, the church of the little flock. They fished all night and caught nothing, but then Jesus instructed them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something. So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish.” (
John 21：6﹚
When they came ashore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish and bread on it. Jesus had prepared everything for them and invited them to have breakfast as the master. St. John’s description of this meal repeats the same words of the Last Supper. “Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish.” (
John 21：13﹚
What John is describing is not in the ‘past tense’, but in the ‘present tense’. St John wanted to express that Jesus is present wherever and whenever the community holds this feast, and “now” Jesus takes the bread, becomes the bread Himself, and invites people to share in the Bread of Life. The meaning of the Eucharist is that those who gather together receive the love of God. This Bread of Life urges one to become the bread shared by brothers and sisters. So all become brothers and sisters, children of God. For those believers who eat the bread and drink wine of Jesus but are unwilling to share with others basically do not understand the meaning of the Eucharist. It is noteworthy that the above meal gathering was attended by the apostles Peter, Thomas and Nathanael, as well as two sons of Zebedee and two other disciples, clearly showing that there was no difference in status. Communion in the Eucharist, whether at Jesus’ time or now through a community of believers hosting the feast of bread and wine, shows the true nature of the Church.
