Hosting Jesus

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, September 8, 2012.

Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. Matthew 9:10.

Jesus surprised people by inviting a tax collector to be part of his inner circle. Then Jesus surprised people again by going to a party at Matthew's house. The party was for Jesus and all Matthew's old friends.

This was not the only time. In Luke 19, Jesus reached out to another tax collector, Zaccheaus. This time Jesus didn't wait for an invitation, he invited himself to Zaccheaus' house for dinner. And again the dinner included more people than just Jesus and the host. It was a crowd.

It appears that this was a habit of Jesus. He liked to go to dinner at people's houses.

Jesus did not just go to houses of tax collectors, he also went to dinner at the homes of Pharisees.

One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. Luke 14:1.

In Matthew 10, Jesus instructed his disciples to do their evangelism by going to people's houses. Matthew 10:12-13. We find the same thing in Luke. Don't move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay. Luke 10:7

In Luke 7, we read the story of Jesus going for dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee.

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.* Luke 7:36

What do these stories teach us?

First, you are invited. Pharisee or tax collector, good person or bad person, someone with an interesting history or someone with a boring story. You are invited. There is a place at the table for you.

Second, you are called to extend the invitation. You are called to host a Jesus party. Invite your friends. So, if your friends are “normal people,” invite normal people. If your friends are “interesting people,” invite interesting people.

The nature of the invitation we are to give is this: come hang out with me and Jesus. You are the host or hostess. You are utterly crucial. Jesus is always available, but many people do not sense his availability. They do not sense the welcome. Your job is to make Jesus' welcome palpable, believable.

Matthew's friends came to meet Jesus only because it was happening at Matthew's house. If Matthew had invited his friends to meet Jesus as some religious person's house, they would probably not have shown up. If Matthew had sent them to meet Jesus at a local synagogue, they would probably not have gone. They came to Matthew because they knew him, they trusted him. They could relate to him.

Pharisees hung out with Pharisees. So where was Jesus likely to be able to meet Pharisees? At another Pharisees' house.

We are called to invite our friends to meet with us and Jesus. Don't “send” your friends to Jesus. There is not much value in sending any one to Jesus. They won't go. Instead bring them to Jesus by inviting them to join you in Jesus' presence.

If your friends come to church sit with them.

If you didn't bring a friend, look around. There is someone here who would be blessed by your smile. One of the challenges for all of us who are here is to look around for someone who might not feel as welcome as we do. Then go and greet that person. Introduce yourself. You will find yourself more at home in the church if you deliberately look around for someone else to include. And you will be doing a ministry that Jesus himself cannot do, a ministry that he is eager for you to do.

Jesus likes to meet people. He needs you to host the meeting.