May 10


Kingdom Society


Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.

Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”

Mark 2:13-16 (NLT)


Jesus teaches me a new formula for life: HUMILITY + HOSPITALITY = SOCIETY. In Jesus’ day the table was a great means of fellowship. Friendships were formed and bonds made when people gathered and shared a meal.

In genuine humility and love, Jesus practiced an open table. It was hospitable, inclusive and like an open door. Jesus said, “Whosoever will come....” and they did. The result was society, a greater society than they had ever known. The kingdom of heaven was at hand.

If Jesus’ table was an open door then, in contrast, the Pharisees table was a wall. Typically, they were not inclusive but exclusive. To sit at their table, one had to be clean, pure, and undefiled. Their’s was the religious, country club set. They were elite and their society was hypocrisy. This is not the society Jesus calls us to.

When we begin to truly love our neighbor as Jesus wants, we ditch hypocrisy, we avoid exclusivity and we shuck our silly pride. Jesus’ call for genuine hospitality begs us, Tear down your walls! Open your doors! And when we do this, we discover the transforming power of kingdom society.


Father, teach me to open doors like Jesus. Amen.