Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have Jesus walking the earth now, the same way he did some two thousand years ago? I’ve had fun imagining scenes of spending time with Jesus, getting to see him, to be healed of pains. I’m sure we’ve all got something we’d love to bring to him to see healed right before our eyes.

Now take it a step further, imagine if he joined you for dinner. After all, several times in the New Testament we see Jesus invited into the homes of others for a meal, and he goes. How cool would it be to have him eating with us?

Or would it be?

If we look again at those sections, Jesus wasn’t the most conventional houseguest. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Mark 2:15-16 (NIV) – While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Luke 7:36-39 (NIV) – When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

John 13:4-5 (NIV) – so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Now these might not seem like a big deal to us, but imagine the time period. For a respected man of God to be surrounding himself in the company of sinners for a meal? Unthinkable. We have it said in our own society, “you become like the five people closest to you.” If you spend a bunch of time with criminals and wrongdoers, you risk developing their bad habits yourself.

How about washing his disciple’s feet? That would be as weird to them as it sounds to us. Here their teacher is taking on a lowly servant role, completely voluntarily. The man who claims to be the Son of God is putting himself in the lowest position. Can you imagine your school teachers offering to carry your bookbag for you? Can you imagine your boss offering to clean your workstation? Can you imagine the president showing up at your house, offering to vacuum your living room with no strings attached?

Man, talk about odd. Jesus wasn’t one for following the norm, he challenged traditions and encouraged growth. So this makes me wonder, if Jesus sat at my table, what might he do that I don’t expect? Would I feel honored to have him sitting there, or offended at his lack of following what I consider to be “houseguest protocol”?

For me, this is a reminder of the danger of my own pride. My sense of how things ought to be done will close my mind against those who don’t follow the same ideas. How many people might I deny from my dinner table, simply because they didn’t act as I expected? If Jesus were here today, would he be among them?

I’m taking this as a challenge to myself, to let go of my sense of control. It’s not about my idea of “the right way to do a thing”, but rather about God’s will of love in our actions. I hope you’ll meditate on this with me in the coming week. Let’s keep an eye out for things that feel weird. The things that we think should be done differently. Instead of judging them, let’s see how we can learn from them, and how we can love those who do them. This may sound risky, we don’t want to encourage unhealthy habits after all, but as long as we keep God’s Word on our hearts, we can trust His Spirit to guide us.