It is so easy to overlook the little things…in life.
It is so easy to take “things” for granted… including people…
There is “so much on our plates” some days…that we do not always see the blessing that are directly before us…
The “little stuff” matters…it all matters, everything matters…get used to it!
And some might even suggest that there are no such things as “little things”…it is all “big stuff” and it is “all important.”
Do not overlook anything! Try and be cognizant of as much as you can…
We’ve heard all these texts so many times that they seem so common place…so ordinary…so humdrum.
The pizzazz is gone out of them. There no longer is a “shock value.” Jesus’ words become watered down and we miss some of the original intention.
I tell you, it’s all big stuff.
Jesus is not radical. He’s simply the same old Jesus we have come to know and to love…
But his words are…
…Subtle, understated, muted, subdued and indistinct…we miss the “wow” factor.
So for example:
When Jesus says… “Stay in that same house, eating and drinking “what they provide;” for the worker is worthy of his wage.
Do not move from house to house. And whatever city you enter and they welcome you, “eat what is placed before you.”
That’s twice talking “about food.”
…Twice talking about “the food that is set before you.” Odd. Strange.
The social context is one of oriental “hospitality.”
We get that!
It is about being “a hospitable person”…(you know, cordial, gracious, obliging and accommodating…) as opposed to being a “jerk.”
Do people even think of such things today? And yet, in Jesus’ time it was “the expected behavior.”
You were to be hospitable to your host. You were to be friendly, amicable and congenial.
The command to eat and drink “what is provided” is “standard etiquette” for any guest in any kind of hospitality context…or setting or should be…
Such activity is an “act of table fellowship” and it “seals the acceptance of the gospel by the household.”
What is going on here?
Wait a minute?
It almost makes “food sound important.” Like food can seal the deal.
Like food is a bigger thing than we first realized.
That eating and drinking with someone is more important than we first thought!
Didn’t the Jews have very strict dietary laws…you could eat this, and you could not eat that…
You could sit down and eat with this person, but you could not with that kind of a person.
Some people make you unclean.
Eating “some things” …certain foods would make one ritually unclean. It was that whole Law of Moses thing…
It was big. It was big-normous, big-alicious, big-a-doodle-do like “a current commercial says…”
You do not mess with “the dietary restriction laws”… or maybe you do and it seems like, that is exactly what Jesus is inferring…or saying…
In this given situation…when you are the guest.
When the sharing of the gospel is at stake…you eat with those who are receptive.
You eat what is given to you, like it or not…dietary laws or not…defilement or not.
You do not be rude.
You do not turn up your nose.
You do not make faces and grimace.
And no your mother isn’t cooking for you – so you better eat what is placed before you and at least “try it.” It is not going to kill you…
So here in this one little text from Luke, we hear about the radical nature of Jesus. Eat what is before you. Don’t worry about Moses or the law.
You get a pass this time around. No, you will not rot in hell. No, God is not going to be displeased with you. Trust me, it will be fine.
Overlook nothing in the scriptures, because it is all there for a reason! Eating together is BIG STUFF. Amen.