Dinner with Jesus

Last Thursday we had our usual dinner at our house for youth.  This week, in addition to our middle school gals, we had two other gals...one who is 15 and has been prostituting for the last two years and another who has been in and out of our juvenile detention facility quite a bit. It was the first time that either gal had been to our house and they are kids that our ministry have been pursuing for years...and they were in our dining room!  

There is something powerful about sharing a meal with others in your home.  It is amazing how at home these kid have felt and how they seem to be able to be themselves.  There is a deeper trust that is built and walls break down. Jesus knew what he was doing when he ate with "sinners."

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"  On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  (Matthew 9:10-13)