Deeper Reflection
WRITING A DEVOTIONAL ENTRY THAT ENCOURAGES Singaporeans to eat feels like an unnecessary exercise. After all, many Singaporeans live to eat! We discuss our dinner menu before we finish lunch. Eating has more than a material significance, however; it also has a social significance. In all societies of the world, ancient and modern, eating is a primary way of entering into and sustaining relationships.¹⁰ In fact, the English word “companion” is derived from the French and Latin words meaning “one who eats bread with another”.Verse 30 tells us that Jesus joined a lavish dinner banquet thrown by Levi the tax collector. The few verses before this provide the context of this feast – Jesus had called Levi the tax collector and Levi left his lucrative profession to follow Jesus (vv.27-28). In that society, tax collectors were heartily disliked: they were seen as collaborators with the Roman authorities and as extortioners. The Talmud classified them as robbers!¹¹So why was Jesus at the banquet? Not to dine on wagyu and lobster, but to enter into fellowship with those despised in Jewish society. His motivation was compassion: to call sinners to repentance (v.32). He saw beyond their social stigma to their deep spiritual need. Will we follow in the footsteps of our Lord and become a compassionate companion of someone who needs the Saviour?

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¹⁰ Holt, Simon. 2011. “Eating”, in The complete book of everyday Christianity, R. J. Banks and R. Paul Stevens, eds., 322-328. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press ¹¹ Morris, L. (1988). Luke: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 3, p. 139). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.