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A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission Around the Table
The meals of Jesus represent something bigger. They represent a new world, a new kingdom, a new outlook.
Tim Chester brings to light God's purposes in the seemingly ordinary act of sharing a meal--how this everyday experience is really an opportunity for grace, community, and mission. Chester challenges contemporary understandings of hospitality as he urges us to evaluate why and who we invite to our table. Learn how you can foster grace and bless others through the rich fare being served in A Meal with Jesus.
Tim Chester brings to light God's purposes in the seemingly ordinary act of sharing a meal--how this everyday experience is really an opportunity for grace, community, and mission. Chester challenges contemporary understandings of hospitality as he urges us to evaluate why and who we invite to our table. Learn how you can foster grace and bless others through the rich fare being served in A Meal with Jesus.
144 pages, Paperback
First published April 5, 2011
210 people are currently reading
2646 people want to read
About the author
Tim Chester
149 books186 followersDr Tim Chester is involved in The Crowded House, a church planting initiative in Sheffield, UK. He was previously Research & Policy Director for Tearfund UK, and has been published widely on prayer, mission, social issues and theology. He is married to Helen and has two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 259 reviews
January 30, 2013
I was really excited to read this book, and I really wanted to love it, but I just kinda didn't. I didn't hate it either, and there was certainly some good stuff in there, but it didn't offer the inspiration and encouragement I'd hoped for. That may be my fault -- I may have been wanting it to be something other than what it was, and therefore rendered myself unable to appreciate it.
I think what was most lacking was illustrative stories. How does eating together change us and our world? This interview with Rosaria Butterfield packed the sort of punch I was hoping for. Although A Meal with Jesus contained some little snippets of how the author and his friends practice hospitality and community, the overall effect was too abstract and theoretical.
I had some theological quibbles throughout. I appreciated the references to Peter Leithart's Blessed Are the Hungry (which I am now itchin' to read), but Chester's sacramental theology ended up being a bit off. He dismisses the effectiveness of observing the Lord's Supper in the midst of formal liturgy, calling instead for a "love feast" approach in small home groups. He even praises a friend's church for ditching corporate worship once a month in favor of "scattered gatherings" in homes. I cannot overstate how freaked out I get over placing mission above worship. Over and over again I have seen how disastrous it is. His eschatology, too, is lacking. He sees the future of the church as small pockets of the faithful amidst the worldly world, and dismisses the idea of a new Christendom. He wanders a little too far into political correctness, i.e., sentiments like Down with Walmart because it's big. His disdain of "potluck suppers in draughty church halls" is unjust. For one thing, that sort of gathering is a blessing and often an only practical option for a geographically scattered congregation. For another, you're not going to encourage the church to grow in hospitality by pooh-poohing the efforts they're already making. And he calls Jesus a "party animal," which just kinda irks me.
On the plus side, Chester gets it that excommunication is a useless disciplinary action if there's little or no communion to be exed from. He rejects gnosticism by promoting the physicality of Jesus and of eating. "Food is not left behind with the resurrection. References to a future feast are not just metaphors for an ethereal future existence." "The world is more delicious than it needs to be." Food reminds us of our dependence on God and on others. "We need to pray for our daily bread not because we're worried about where our next meal might come from, but because we're not." "People don't want to be projects" is always a good reminder. He does a good job addressing the excuses people make for not pursuing hospitality in their homes. I liked this insight: "Jesus will experience in the Supper a glimpse of the goal of his work of salvation. In that experience he will be reassured that the suffering that weighs so heavy on his heart is worth it. ... The meal functions in the same way for us. What we call 'the Lord's Supper' is a foretaste of 'the Lamb's Supper.'"
Chester's call to use meals as a means to breaking down barriers is a little muddled. On the one hand he notes that, metaphorically, we are all poor, blind, crippled, and lame (p. 79), yet he scolds Christians who gather together as a "cozy support group" rather than in "adventurous mission" (p.82). Surely there's room and need for both. He identifies the traditional category of the elite as the wealthy and self-righteous, but does that necessarily fit in our culture? I don't think our in/out divide is strictly or even mostly a rich/poor divide. "Coolness" is a powerful kind of elitism in our culture, and the self-righteousness of political correctness is potent and hard to see.
A couple of it's-not-the-author's-fault notes: The book could have used better editing to help direct the flow of the arguments. The typography was irritating. (Yes, this sounds petty, but noting such things is a professional hazard with me!)
I am looking forward to going through it again with our parish small group, and I do hope that our reading it together as a church will have the effect of stimulating our collective efforts at hospitality. Maybe I'll revisit my review after the study and see if working through the book in community has improved it.
I think what was most lacking was illustrative stories. How does eating together change us and our world? This interview with Rosaria Butterfield packed the sort of punch I was hoping for. Although A Meal with Jesus contained some little snippets of how the author and his friends practice hospitality and community, the overall effect was too abstract and theoretical.
I had some theological quibbles throughout. I appreciated the references to Peter Leithart's Blessed Are the Hungry (which I am now itchin' to read), but Chester's sacramental theology ended up being a bit off. He dismisses the effectiveness of observing the Lord's Supper in the midst of formal liturgy, calling instead for a "love feast" approach in small home groups. He even praises a friend's church for ditching corporate worship once a month in favor of "scattered gatherings" in homes. I cannot overstate how freaked out I get over placing mission above worship. Over and over again I have seen how disastrous it is. His eschatology, too, is lacking. He sees the future of the church as small pockets of the faithful amidst the worldly world, and dismisses the idea of a new Christendom. He wanders a little too far into political correctness, i.e., sentiments like Down with Walmart because it's big. His disdain of "potluck suppers in draughty church halls" is unjust. For one thing, that sort of gathering is a blessing and often an only practical option for a geographically scattered congregation. For another, you're not going to encourage the church to grow in hospitality by pooh-poohing the efforts they're already making. And he calls Jesus a "party animal," which just kinda irks me.
On the plus side, Chester gets it that excommunication is a useless disciplinary action if there's little or no communion to be exed from. He rejects gnosticism by promoting the physicality of Jesus and of eating. "Food is not left behind with the resurrection. References to a future feast are not just metaphors for an ethereal future existence." "The world is more delicious than it needs to be." Food reminds us of our dependence on God and on others. "We need to pray for our daily bread not because we're worried about where our next meal might come from, but because we're not." "People don't want to be projects" is always a good reminder. He does a good job addressing the excuses people make for not pursuing hospitality in their homes. I liked this insight: "Jesus will experience in the Supper a glimpse of the goal of his work of salvation. In that experience he will be reassured that the suffering that weighs so heavy on his heart is worth it. ... The meal functions in the same way for us. What we call 'the Lord's Supper' is a foretaste of 'the Lamb's Supper.'"
Chester's call to use meals as a means to breaking down barriers is a little muddled. On the one hand he notes that, metaphorically, we are all poor, blind, crippled, and lame (p. 79), yet he scolds Christians who gather together as a "cozy support group" rather than in "adventurous mission" (p.82). Surely there's room and need for both. He identifies the traditional category of the elite as the wealthy and self-righteous, but does that necessarily fit in our culture? I don't think our in/out divide is strictly or even mostly a rich/poor divide. "Coolness" is a powerful kind of elitism in our culture, and the self-righteousness of political correctness is potent and hard to see.
A couple of it's-not-the-author's-fault notes: The book could have used better editing to help direct the flow of the arguments. The typography was irritating. (Yes, this sounds petty, but noting such things is a professional hazard with me!)
I am looking forward to going through it again with our parish small group, and I do hope that our reading it together as a church will have the effect of stimulating our collective efforts at hospitality. Maybe I'll revisit my review after the study and see if working through the book in community has improved it.
April 23, 2023
The tablecloth on the cover is similar to the cover of the Better Homes Cook Book.
Read in our college CE class at church. Didn't finish until the summer.
I love the way books like this take seemingly mundane topics (food/eating) and show their theological significance. Books like this are powerfully formative and can reshape people's thinking in significant ways. Leithart's Blessed Are the Hungry is mentioned/cited a lot.
Introduction: The Son of Man Came Eating and Drinking
9: expressing appreciation for food can be "an involuntary exclamation of delight"; meals are "embodiment[s] of . . . love"
9–10: we share food with friends (or likely friends); companion literally means "with bread" (one with whom you break bread)
10: food leads to conversation; at the table, we "shar[e] news, tell stories, and pok[e] fun"; "Values have been imbibed. Guests have been welcomed. People have found a home. Love has blossomed."; families bond by laughing around the table
11: hospitality can go wrong (when withheld); Americans annually spend billions on dieting ("food gone wrong"; "curing our overconsumption"); "Food is so much more than fuel"
12: "The Son of Man came eating and drinking" (Luke 7:34; statement of method/how)—we usually think of "The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45) and "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10)—statements of purpose/why
12–13: Jesus enjoyed eating and drinking so much that he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard (Luke 7:34)
13: "He was a party animal" [bit of an overstatement, but okay]; "Luke's Gospel is full of stories of Jesus eating with people"
14: eating and drinking are signs of friendship; "In the ministry of Jesus, meals were enacted grace, community, and mission"; meals are "social occasions" and "represent friendship, community, and welcome"; "meals should be an integral and significant part of our shared life"
15: Leithart: Jesus "came teaching about the feast of the kingdom, and He came feasting in the kingdom"
15–16: meals might "involve people invading your space or going to places where you don't feel comfortable"
Ch. 1: Meals as Enacted Grace: Luke 5
19: meals as "boundary markers" (acceptance or rejection)
20: Jewish dietary boundaries separated people groups
21–23: ceremonial washing was so complicated/expensive that the poor were practically excluded (vocabulary is another way to make people feel excluded)
22: condemning vices from a distance is legalism (although some things deserve to be condemned)—come alongside people to help them in their weaknesses
31–32: Jesus eats with self-righteous Pharisees too; Prodigal Son story ends without resolution—leads us to consider our own response
Ch. 2: Meals as Enacted Community: Luke 7
40: "Prostitution . . . is a commercial parody of hospitality. . . . [Jesus] reinterprets what she does as a loving act rather than an erotic act."
41: "Israel itself is a rebellious son of God. But . . . Jesus [dies] the death of a rebellious son."
43: the woman in Simon's house was more of a host (washing Jesus' feet) than Simon was
45–46: we have a strong sense of forgiveness if we have a strong sense of our own need; otherwise, our help sounds patronizing ("become like me")
46: families eat together far less
46–47: Starbucks sells hospitality
47: hospital comes from hospitality; meals slow things down—contributes to building relationships
48: dinner as "the cornerstone of our family's mental health"
49: hospitality is worth the "collateral damage" (mess, cost, time); meals are "a microcosm of social reality"
52: church excommunication is related to the meal (Lord's Supper)
54: Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain
Ch. 3: Meals as Enacted Hope: Luke 9
61: foretaste
62: theology of leftovers
66: food is at the beginning and ending of the Bible (garden fruit, and wedding feast)
67: food isn't just fuel; quotation by Robert Farrar Capon
69: baking and the creation mandate; Leithart and Babylonian creation myths (Marduk)
70–71: "Eating is an expression of our dependence" on God and others; "fasting reminds us that we're creature"
72: control re: eating helps us with controlling other bodily/spiritual appetites (don't be flabby physically or spiritually); overconsumption robs us of the joy of satisfaction (because we're perpetually satisfied)
73: great section on what exactly we are doing when we pray for the food (dependance on God and others, goodness of food, gratitude to God and for community); food points to the goodness of the physical creation
Ch. 4: Meals as Enacted Mission: Luke 14
80–81: meals express a vision of life
81: invite outsiders
82: writing checks keeps a distance between us and the poor
88–89: Babette's Feast (from Keller's Prodigal God)
89: hospitality in OT and NT
90: Rule of St. Benedict; "citizens of the heavenly city [are] actively seeking the peace and good order of the earthly city"
90–91: hospitality is ordinary
92–93: open your home and look for opportunities to throw a party for various occasions (personal, sporting, seasonal, cultural); "You don't have to give a little sermon—just be attentive to people and open about your faith"
94: a house too clean/dirty can be intimidating
96: don't be so busy at church that you can't be hospitable at home; let guests help when they offer
97: insightful reasons for business (insecurity, fear, dissatisfaction, need to prove oneself)
98: regularity is important
Ch. 5: Meals as Enacted Salvation: Luke 22
102: "If your church stopped celebrating communion, what difference would it make to your life?"
103: "we need to sketch a biblical theology of food and meals"; food was a matter of obedience from the beginning (it's also dependance on God); we sinned by eating (mistrust); sin distorts our relationship with food
104: food isn't just fuel/utility—when we treat it as such, we deny God's gifts of rest, community, gratitude, etc. (we express independence from God, not dependence on him); worshiping our self-image (via food/eating) "is an attempt to be godlike"; Kate Moss: "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"
108: "Sabbath laws made eating an act of faith" (dependence on God's provision)
109–10: prophets' warnings/judgments often connected to food (esp. Joel)
112: the Last Supper looks back to the Passover and forward to the Supper of the Lamb
114: communion is a visible way of participating in the gospel story
115: communion bread suggests that the new creation doesn't cancel this-worldly concerns (Leithart); prepared bread (not just wheat) suggests the importance of cultural activity
118–19: Chester seems to suggest that communion at church (as opposed to in homes) diminishes the feasting and celebratory aspects of the meal
119: the meal isn't merely memorial—it changes us
121: the meal reminds us of our salvation, but it also reminds God of his promises and is a call for him to act on them (forgiving, accepting, welcoming); "meals create and reinforce community"
122: "The family that eats together stays together"
122: "Every meal is a reminder of our dependence, as creatures, on God—the Communion meal included. Each mouthful is a reminder that we're not self-sustaining. . . . Each mouthful is a reminder that we cannot save ourselves."
123–24: Communion is role-playing for the church (Leithart): we resist workaholism, individualism, striving, self-fulfillment, and pride by resting, belonging, receiving, serving, and being generous
Ch. 6: Meals as Enacted Promise: Luke 24
127: the road to Emmaus story shows Jesus entering their story by eating
128: "Our whole world is between Good Friday and Easter Sunday"
130: we walk alongside people in their pain, revealing our own pain—this keeps the triumph of the gospel from sounding glib; Emmaus road travelers misread Scripture, using Moses's epitaph (Deut. 34:10–12) to describe Jesus (Luke 24:19) and express hope for deliverance
Here Chester talks about eschatology with Piper and Wilson.
Read in our college CE class at church. Didn't finish until the summer.
I love the way books like this take seemingly mundane topics (food/eating) and show their theological significance. Books like this are powerfully formative and can reshape people's thinking in significant ways. Leithart's Blessed Are the Hungry is mentioned/cited a lot.
Introduction: The Son of Man Came Eating and Drinking
9: expressing appreciation for food can be "an involuntary exclamation of delight"; meals are "embodiment[s] of . . . love"
9–10: we share food with friends (or likely friends); companion literally means "with bread" (one with whom you break bread)
10: food leads to conversation; at the table, we "shar[e] news, tell stories, and pok[e] fun"; "Values have been imbibed. Guests have been welcomed. People have found a home. Love has blossomed."; families bond by laughing around the table
11: hospitality can go wrong (when withheld); Americans annually spend billions on dieting ("food gone wrong"; "curing our overconsumption"); "Food is so much more than fuel"
12: "The Son of Man came eating and drinking" (Luke 7:34; statement of method/how)—we usually think of "The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45) and "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10)—statements of purpose/why
12–13: Jesus enjoyed eating and drinking so much that he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard (Luke 7:34)
13: "He was a party animal" [bit of an overstatement, but okay]; "Luke's Gospel is full of stories of Jesus eating with people"
14: eating and drinking are signs of friendship; "In the ministry of Jesus, meals were enacted grace, community, and mission"; meals are "social occasions" and "represent friendship, community, and welcome"; "meals should be an integral and significant part of our shared life"
15: Leithart: Jesus "came teaching about the feast of the kingdom, and He came feasting in the kingdom"
15–16: meals might "involve people invading your space or going to places where you don't feel comfortable"
Ch. 1: Meals as Enacted Grace: Luke 5
19: meals as "boundary markers" (acceptance or rejection)
20: Jewish dietary boundaries separated people groups
21–23: ceremonial washing was so complicated/expensive that the poor were practically excluded (vocabulary is another way to make people feel excluded)
22: condemning vices from a distance is legalism (although some things deserve to be condemned)—come alongside people to help them in their weaknesses
31–32: Jesus eats with self-righteous Pharisees too; Prodigal Son story ends without resolution—leads us to consider our own response
Ch. 2: Meals as Enacted Community: Luke 7
40: "Prostitution . . . is a commercial parody of hospitality. . . . [Jesus] reinterprets what she does as a loving act rather than an erotic act."
41: "Israel itself is a rebellious son of God. But . . . Jesus [dies] the death of a rebellious son."
43: the woman in Simon's house was more of a host (washing Jesus' feet) than Simon was
45–46: we have a strong sense of forgiveness if we have a strong sense of our own need; otherwise, our help sounds patronizing ("become like me")
46: families eat together far less
46–47: Starbucks sells hospitality
47: hospital comes from hospitality; meals slow things down—contributes to building relationships
48: dinner as "the cornerstone of our family's mental health"
49: hospitality is worth the "collateral damage" (mess, cost, time); meals are "a microcosm of social reality"
52: church excommunication is related to the meal (Lord's Supper)
54: Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain
Ch. 3: Meals as Enacted Hope: Luke 9
61: foretaste
62: theology of leftovers
66: food is at the beginning and ending of the Bible (garden fruit, and wedding feast)
67: food isn't just fuel; quotation by Robert Farrar Capon
69: baking and the creation mandate; Leithart and Babylonian creation myths (Marduk)
70–71: "Eating is an expression of our dependence" on God and others; "fasting reminds us that we're creature"
72: control re: eating helps us with controlling other bodily/spiritual appetites (don't be flabby physically or spiritually); overconsumption robs us of the joy of satisfaction (because we're perpetually satisfied)
73: great section on what exactly we are doing when we pray for the food (dependance on God and others, goodness of food, gratitude to God and for community); food points to the goodness of the physical creation
Ch. 4: Meals as Enacted Mission: Luke 14
80–81: meals express a vision of life
81: invite outsiders
82: writing checks keeps a distance between us and the poor
88–89: Babette's Feast (from Keller's Prodigal God)
89: hospitality in OT and NT
90: Rule of St. Benedict; "citizens of the heavenly city [are] actively seeking the peace and good order of the earthly city"
90–91: hospitality is ordinary
92–93: open your home and look for opportunities to throw a party for various occasions (personal, sporting, seasonal, cultural); "You don't have to give a little sermon—just be attentive to people and open about your faith"
94: a house too clean/dirty can be intimidating
96: don't be so busy at church that you can't be hospitable at home; let guests help when they offer
97: insightful reasons for business (insecurity, fear, dissatisfaction, need to prove oneself)
98: regularity is important
Ch. 5: Meals as Enacted Salvation: Luke 22
102: "If your church stopped celebrating communion, what difference would it make to your life?"
103: "we need to sketch a biblical theology of food and meals"; food was a matter of obedience from the beginning (it's also dependance on God); we sinned by eating (mistrust); sin distorts our relationship with food
104: food isn't just fuel/utility—when we treat it as such, we deny God's gifts of rest, community, gratitude, etc. (we express independence from God, not dependence on him); worshiping our self-image (via food/eating) "is an attempt to be godlike"; Kate Moss: "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"
108: "Sabbath laws made eating an act of faith" (dependence on God's provision)
109–10: prophets' warnings/judgments often connected to food (esp. Joel)
112: the Last Supper looks back to the Passover and forward to the Supper of the Lamb
114: communion is a visible way of participating in the gospel story
115: communion bread suggests that the new creation doesn't cancel this-worldly concerns (Leithart); prepared bread (not just wheat) suggests the importance of cultural activity
118–19: Chester seems to suggest that communion at church (as opposed to in homes) diminishes the feasting and celebratory aspects of the meal
119: the meal isn't merely memorial—it changes us
121: the meal reminds us of our salvation, but it also reminds God of his promises and is a call for him to act on them (forgiving, accepting, welcoming); "meals create and reinforce community"
122: "The family that eats together stays together"
122: "Every meal is a reminder of our dependence, as creatures, on God—the Communion meal included. Each mouthful is a reminder that we're not self-sustaining. . . . Each mouthful is a reminder that we cannot save ourselves."
123–24: Communion is role-playing for the church (Leithart): we resist workaholism, individualism, striving, self-fulfillment, and pride by resting, belonging, receiving, serving, and being generous
Ch. 6: Meals as Enacted Promise: Luke 24
127: the road to Emmaus story shows Jesus entering their story by eating
128: "Our whole world is between Good Friday and Easter Sunday"
130: we walk alongside people in their pain, revealing our own pain—this keeps the triumph of the gospel from sounding glib; Emmaus road travelers misread Scripture, using Moses's epitaph (Deut. 34:10–12) to describe Jesus (Luke 24:19) and express hope for deliverance
Here Chester talks about eschatology with Piper and Wilson.
September 21, 2025
This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. As I read, I kept having ah-ha moments, wondering how in my reading of the Bible, I had missed so many of the ideas and observations the author made. Encouraging, challenging, hopeful, and anchoring.
July 9, 2021
Unfulfilling, at times frustrating. Aside from disagreements in theology (it was obvious he is amil) the book felt like it wanted to be a systematic theology of food in the Bible but came off as eisegetical. I'm always looking for some good so I will say that I now fully appreciate the gift of food and feel encouraged to share more meals with others.
September 2, 2022
Great, convicting. Only con is how low of a view this author has of lords day worship
December 31, 2015
Excellent book. I read it on Kindle but enjoyed it so much that I want to re-read it in paper! My only problem (big disagreement with Chester) is his view on the Lord's Supper.
NOTE: I read it on the paper for the second time in April 2013. Read it again on 2015.
I appreciate that Chester in the second chapter of his book (p.52) deals with the issue of excommunication.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
"Food matters. Meal matters. meals are full of significance. 'Few acts are more expressive of companionship than the shared meal...'"
"Our life at the table, no matter how mundane, is sacramental - a means through which we encounter the mystery of God."
"The first two are statements of purpose. Why did Jesus come? He came to serve, to give his life as a ransom, to seek and save the lost. The third is a statement of method. How did Jesus come? He came eating and drinking."
"Hospitality has become performance art, and we've lost the creation of intimacy around a meal."
"Hospitality involves welcoming, creating space, paying attention, and providing. Meals slow things down. But meals force you to be a people oriented instead of task oriented. Sharing a meal is not the only way to build relationships, but it is number one on the list."
"How could you extend the generous welcome of the gospel if you didn't welcome people into your home?"
"That is what the church is to be: a community of broken people finding a family around a meal under the tree of Calvary."
"The feeding of the five thousand people was not the full deal. But it was a glimpse of it. Jesus is the host of God's great party, just as he was the host of the dinner in this wilderness. When Jesus saw the crowd 'he welcomed them'(Luke 9:11). Jesus is God's Messiah, because he welcomes us to the messianic banquet."
"Jesus is the host of God's banquet, and he provides for us by dying for us."
"The world is more delicious than it needs to be. We have a superabundance of divine goodness and generosity."
"We not only express our dependence on God by feasting, but also by fasting. Just as food points to the goodness of God, so the hunger of fasting reminds us of our need for God."
"If you want to see a religious person's vision of life, then show up at one of their meals."
"Jesus didn't run projects, establish ministries, create programs, or put on events. He ate meals. If you routinely share meals and you have a passion for Jesus, then you'll be doing mission."
"Meals bring mission into the ordinary. But that's where most people are -living in the ordinary. That's where we need to reach them."
"If you want to understand a person's worldview, don't read a book. Talk to them, hang out with them, eat with them."
"Sin distorts all of our relationships, including our relationships with food."
NOTE: I read it on the paper for the second time in April 2013. Read it again on 2015.
I appreciate that Chester in the second chapter of his book (p.52) deals with the issue of excommunication.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
"Food matters. Meal matters. meals are full of significance. 'Few acts are more expressive of companionship than the shared meal...'"
"Our life at the table, no matter how mundane, is sacramental - a means through which we encounter the mystery of God."
"The first two are statements of purpose. Why did Jesus come? He came to serve, to give his life as a ransom, to seek and save the lost. The third is a statement of method. How did Jesus come? He came eating and drinking."
"Hospitality has become performance art, and we've lost the creation of intimacy around a meal."
"Hospitality involves welcoming, creating space, paying attention, and providing. Meals slow things down. But meals force you to be a people oriented instead of task oriented. Sharing a meal is not the only way to build relationships, but it is number one on the list."
"How could you extend the generous welcome of the gospel if you didn't welcome people into your home?"
"That is what the church is to be: a community of broken people finding a family around a meal under the tree of Calvary."
"The feeding of the five thousand people was not the full deal. But it was a glimpse of it. Jesus is the host of God's great party, just as he was the host of the dinner in this wilderness. When Jesus saw the crowd 'he welcomed them'(Luke 9:11). Jesus is God's Messiah, because he welcomes us to the messianic banquet."
"Jesus is the host of God's banquet, and he provides for us by dying for us."
"The world is more delicious than it needs to be. We have a superabundance of divine goodness and generosity."
"We not only express our dependence on God by feasting, but also by fasting. Just as food points to the goodness of God, so the hunger of fasting reminds us of our need for God."
"If you want to see a religious person's vision of life, then show up at one of their meals."
"Jesus didn't run projects, establish ministries, create programs, or put on events. He ate meals. If you routinely share meals and you have a passion for Jesus, then you'll be doing mission."
"Meals bring mission into the ordinary. But that's where most people are -living in the ordinary. That's where we need to reach them."
"If you want to understand a person's worldview, don't read a book. Talk to them, hang out with them, eat with them."
"Sin distorts all of our relationships, including our relationships with food."
February 10, 2013
Really worthwhile. A lot of good stuff in here. There were some meh moments also, but it was good.
January 10, 2024
This is a short book about how sharing food shares Jesus. My little brother bought it at CrossCon and told me to read it before I left and I'm glad he did. This book takes a pretty deep dive into how food and meals are used throughout the Bible. From the Old Testament to the New, food has its own arc of being corrupted in the Fall and then redeemed by Christ to unite his people in celebrating God's bounty. Food unites mankind in their dependence and points to the one who can ultimately satisfy. I hope that what I've learned here will continue to dwell in me and shape me into a better host.
November 16, 2020
I should have read this book 9 years ago when it was originally published. It's so simple yet so profound. Tim Chester emphasizes Luke's (and Jesus') emphasis on meals and shows how Jesus used meals to minister. Sometimes we complicate ministry too much. Chester shows us that it can be as simple as having a meal with others.
December 29, 2025
A very convicting book. Don’t be fooled by the cozy, comforting looking picnic blanket cover. This book packs a punch if you think hospitality is having a nice meal with friends. There are so many moments in this book that have stayed with me and shaped my view of what Biblical hospitality entails
August 15, 2013
If you thought I was through with my passion to learn about the eschatological factor of feasting, especially how it is portrayed in the gospel of Luke, you are sadly mistaken. Interestingly, I can be the same way with my theology as I am with food. I seem to have a propensity to get hooked to the point where I begin weaving my new cravings into all kinds of recipes. It takes a long time for me to move on. Currently, I am in an avocado, asparagus, jalapeno, coconut, and peanut butter ice cream phase. Seriously, my Pinterest page will testify.
For theology, it’s the aforementioned feasting, the Emmaus encounter, perseverance, and theological fitness. As you can see, some of these go together well. I hope you will show me the same grace that my family does at the dinner table (well, really just my husband) when I have found yet another way to sneak some asparagus into the dish.
And speaking of meals, reading Tim Chester’s book made me hungry. It inspired me to enjoy mealtime even more and to spread that joy in hospitality. For those of you who enjoyed reading my reflections on The Ongoing Feast, by Arthur A. Just, but maybe weren’t ready to sink your teeth into such a meaty book, A Meal with Jesus may be what you’re looking for. This book is much more focused on practical application, and yet Chester is passionate about the theological indicatives. Like Just, he also teaches from the gospel of Luke to set out to prove his subtitle, Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission around the Table.
Let me just say that this book has the best opening line ever: “I fell in love with my wife while she was making me cheese on toast” (9). This line alone made me love the author and commit to reading to the end. And the rest of his book is indicative to that first line—practical demonstrations of how meals are enacted grace, community, and mission.
People often complain that they lack time for mission. But we all have to eat. Three meals a day, seven days a week. That’s twenty-one opportunities for mission and community without adding anything to your schedule (92).
Do you often eat alone? By pointing us to Jesus’s ministry, Chester shows the reader how eating and drinking is much more than refueling. Sometimes when we are reading about Jesus eating with sinners we may be annoyed that the Pharisees just didn’t get it. But Chester explains just how radical it was for him to do. Food was like a boundary marker that kept the outsiders away. “Doing lunch was doing theology” (21). Jesus Christ has fulfilled all the purity laws of Leviticus. Therefore, “grace can’t be integrated with self-righteousness and self-importance. It’s radically different, radically new” (26).
Chester challenges the reader. Just think of how uncomfortable you would be if a promiscuous woman were kissing Jesus and rubbing her hair all over his feet. “The grace of God turns out to be uncomfortable and embarrassing” (40). Christ’s interaction with sinners, especially around the table, creates a new kind of community.
Chester also links hospitality with mission, and gives very practical ways to do this. I will let you read the book to glean from his own experiences and ideas. His passion for intimate hospitality really challenges the way we have institutionalized it, even in the church.
Jesus’s command to invite the poor for dinner violates our notions of distance and detachment. Mission as hospitality undermines the professionalization of ministry. Mission isn’t something I can clock out from at the end of the day. The hospitality to which Jesus calls us can’t be institutionalized in programs and projects. Jesus challenges us to take mission home…Don’t start a hospitality ministry in your church: open your home (91-92).
Good stuff.
I do have one quibble with the book. Chester seems to blend the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper with the love feasts of the early church. Yes, they were often combined, but there is still an important distinction. The Lord’s Supper did have a “fence” around it for the confessing church. It is through this sacrament that the bread and wine become holy means of grace to convey Christ and the benefits of his death and resurrection. I would have liked to see more of a distinction in the book.
Back to the eschatological factor of feasting. I will leave you with this great excerpt:
When the disparate people of God come together and express community around the table, united as we are in Christ, then the promised feast finds fulfillment. When we celebrate the goodness of creation as we enjoy our food, then the promised feast finds fulfillment, and we anticipate the renewal of creation. When we eat together in the presence of God by his Spirit, then the promised feast finds fulfillment. These are powerful declarations to the world of the coming feast of God to which all humanity is invited and the current presence of God with his people. Joel himself declares at the climax of his prophecy: “the Lord dwells in Zion” (3:21) (115).
For theology, it’s the aforementioned feasting, the Emmaus encounter, perseverance, and theological fitness. As you can see, some of these go together well. I hope you will show me the same grace that my family does at the dinner table (well, really just my husband) when I have found yet another way to sneak some asparagus into the dish.
And speaking of meals, reading Tim Chester’s book made me hungry. It inspired me to enjoy mealtime even more and to spread that joy in hospitality. For those of you who enjoyed reading my reflections on The Ongoing Feast, by Arthur A. Just, but maybe weren’t ready to sink your teeth into such a meaty book, A Meal with Jesus may be what you’re looking for. This book is much more focused on practical application, and yet Chester is passionate about the theological indicatives. Like Just, he also teaches from the gospel of Luke to set out to prove his subtitle, Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission around the Table.
Let me just say that this book has the best opening line ever: “I fell in love with my wife while she was making me cheese on toast” (9). This line alone made me love the author and commit to reading to the end. And the rest of his book is indicative to that first line—practical demonstrations of how meals are enacted grace, community, and mission.
People often complain that they lack time for mission. But we all have to eat. Three meals a day, seven days a week. That’s twenty-one opportunities for mission and community without adding anything to your schedule (92).
Do you often eat alone? By pointing us to Jesus’s ministry, Chester shows the reader how eating and drinking is much more than refueling. Sometimes when we are reading about Jesus eating with sinners we may be annoyed that the Pharisees just didn’t get it. But Chester explains just how radical it was for him to do. Food was like a boundary marker that kept the outsiders away. “Doing lunch was doing theology” (21). Jesus Christ has fulfilled all the purity laws of Leviticus. Therefore, “grace can’t be integrated with self-righteousness and self-importance. It’s radically different, radically new” (26).
Chester challenges the reader. Just think of how uncomfortable you would be if a promiscuous woman were kissing Jesus and rubbing her hair all over his feet. “The grace of God turns out to be uncomfortable and embarrassing” (40). Christ’s interaction with sinners, especially around the table, creates a new kind of community.
Chester also links hospitality with mission, and gives very practical ways to do this. I will let you read the book to glean from his own experiences and ideas. His passion for intimate hospitality really challenges the way we have institutionalized it, even in the church.
Jesus’s command to invite the poor for dinner violates our notions of distance and detachment. Mission as hospitality undermines the professionalization of ministry. Mission isn’t something I can clock out from at the end of the day. The hospitality to which Jesus calls us can’t be institutionalized in programs and projects. Jesus challenges us to take mission home…Don’t start a hospitality ministry in your church: open your home (91-92).
Good stuff.
I do have one quibble with the book. Chester seems to blend the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper with the love feasts of the early church. Yes, they were often combined, but there is still an important distinction. The Lord’s Supper did have a “fence” around it for the confessing church. It is through this sacrament that the bread and wine become holy means of grace to convey Christ and the benefits of his death and resurrection. I would have liked to see more of a distinction in the book.
Back to the eschatological factor of feasting. I will leave you with this great excerpt:
When the disparate people of God come together and express community around the table, united as we are in Christ, then the promised feast finds fulfillment. When we celebrate the goodness of creation as we enjoy our food, then the promised feast finds fulfillment, and we anticipate the renewal of creation. When we eat together in the presence of God by his Spirit, then the promised feast finds fulfillment. These are powerful declarations to the world of the coming feast of God to which all humanity is invited and the current presence of God with his people. Joel himself declares at the climax of his prophecy: “the Lord dwells in Zion” (3:21) (115).
January 8, 2024
The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost, He came to serve, not to be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many. How’d He do this? The Son of Man came eating and drinking.
September 7, 2021
This was like a small systematic theology of eating and meals in the Bible. Not really what I expected from the description but I got something out of it so that’s nice.
“When you combine a passion for Jesus with shared meals, you create potent gospel opportunities.”
“When you combine a passion for Jesus with shared meals, you create potent gospel opportunities.”
February 12, 2024
I finished this over the summer & forgot to mark it. Wasn’t a standout book. I would recommend The Gospel Comes With a Houekey instead if you’re looking for something on this topic.
May 18, 2024
“The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7:34)
I don’t typically step out of academic theology into popular level theology. But when my dear friend Trevor told me I had to read Tim Chester’s “A Meal With Jesus” I knew it would be a worthwhile endeavor.
A few years ago Chester’s “Truth We Can Touch” was my book of the year. It was insightful, devotional, rooted not only in Reformed history but took from the full breath of the communion of saints, and steeped in a deep desire to know and to be known by Christ Jesus. Since then the book has been one of my comfort reads whenever I am feeling far off from God.
In a similar way “A Meal With Jesus” has been such a joy to read. At just over a hundred pages, anybody with an hour or two to spare could easily sit down and be edified by this work. The work dealt with easy to understand themes and avoided unnecessary academic jargon. And like the rest of Chester’s corpus of work, it was deeply devotional.
Exegetically, the work mainly examines the meals Jesus shares with others as they are found in the Gospel of Luke. However, it deals with the full breadth of the Scripture narrative in a unique and insightful way. Chester reminds us that the metanarrative of Scripture sits around several meals. In the a Garden, God laid out a feast for man to enjoy in God’s own presence. It was through a meal shared between Adam and Eve that man found themselves cast out of the Garden and thus from the presence of God. At the pinnacle of the Scripture narrative Christ reminds us through the Last Supper that it is only by his blood and the breaking of his body that we will ever be reconciled to God. Through our regular participation in the shared meal of Communion we actively participate in union with Christ. And we await the day when we will rejoin our Lord, we will see his face, and he will have set out a great feast for us at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
However, the book is so much more than a commentary on a few passages in Luke, or even a dialectic on the Biblical Theological theme of eating with God. The work is a popular level (and dare I say, practical) theology. Each chapter examines one way shared meals help shape and form the regular life of the believer. Chester breaches topics like the goodness and beauty of food points us to a gracious God, how meals are formative in building community, how meals can help promote evangelism, how the Lord’s Supper is a shared meal with God, and how we should li g for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
This year my favorite book so far has been Fr. Capon’s “Supper of the Lamb.” And so it felt thematically relevant when my friend Trevor recommended this book. And this has been almost as wonderful and maybe even more practical. Interestingly, Chester quotes Capon often and presents some of his theology in an easy to digest way. Chester also takes some of Dr. Peter Leithart’s academic theology on the Eucharist and presents his ideas in bite sized chunks that any layperson could easily engage with.
Crossway gave us an attractive cover, and a heavy paperweight that avoids pen bleed. The typeface was a tad small and not the easiest to read. I also would have loved to see some discussion or study questions included in a work like this that was clearly meant for community group discussion. And one of my constant asks from Crossway is more margin room for notes. They gave us the perfect paper for writing in books, and then denied us the margin space to use it.
I absolutely adored this work, and will be rereading it again soon.
March 18, 2024
4.75 stars maybe??? This book did have a lot of reputation but I found myself underlining so much in it. So many quotes I wish I could remember for a long time. The author put so much scripture in which I appreciate!
This book came at the perfect time with such an important perspective. Though I didn’t love how he worded a few of his points I still understood. I debated writing a review just because I have so many thoughts that can’t be narrowed down. Tim Chester put so many of my thoughts into words.
This book highlighted so many important things but a few are:
1. A lot Jesus’ ministry was through sitting with people at a table. By eating with the sinners he did a scandalous thing, he lowered himself to their level to proclaim the gospel. That’s what we are called to sit with other sinners and proclaim the gospel.
2. Food is evidence of grace and dependence on God.
3. A meal is to look forward to the banquet of the lamb. This is a point that was very repetitive but important so I didn’t mind.
4. The importance of hospitality and diverse community.
5. The abundance of God. “The world is more delicious than it needs to be to be. We have a superabundance of Devine goodness and generosity. God went over the top. We done need the variety we enjoy, but he gave it to us out of sheer exuberant joy and grace. Gods creative joy wasn’t only for the beginning of creation, leaving us ‘eating leftovers’ God continued to sustain creation out of joy.” He also go one to say the importance of quality and sourcing, which I appreciate.
6. (One of my personal favorites) How cooking can be apart of the cultural mandate. To care for and cultivate, develop and explore. “Every time you place a meal on the table with quiet satisfaction, you’re sharing the joy of the creator at the creation of the world when he declared everything good” I mean I’m glad someone finally put my thoughts to words.
7. “Sin distorts all relationships, including our relationship with food” 2 pages of pure goodness highlighting every line.
I’m sure I will re read or recommend to a friend at some point in the future!
This book came at the perfect time with such an important perspective. Though I didn’t love how he worded a few of his points I still understood. I debated writing a review just because I have so many thoughts that can’t be narrowed down. Tim Chester put so many of my thoughts into words.
This book highlighted so many important things but a few are:
1. A lot Jesus’ ministry was through sitting with people at a table. By eating with the sinners he did a scandalous thing, he lowered himself to their level to proclaim the gospel. That’s what we are called to sit with other sinners and proclaim the gospel.
2. Food is evidence of grace and dependence on God.
3. A meal is to look forward to the banquet of the lamb. This is a point that was very repetitive but important so I didn’t mind.
4. The importance of hospitality and diverse community.
5. The abundance of God. “The world is more delicious than it needs to be to be. We have a superabundance of Devine goodness and generosity. God went over the top. We done need the variety we enjoy, but he gave it to us out of sheer exuberant joy and grace. Gods creative joy wasn’t only for the beginning of creation, leaving us ‘eating leftovers’ God continued to sustain creation out of joy.” He also go one to say the importance of quality and sourcing, which I appreciate.
6. (One of my personal favorites) How cooking can be apart of the cultural mandate. To care for and cultivate, develop and explore. “Every time you place a meal on the table with quiet satisfaction, you’re sharing the joy of the creator at the creation of the world when he declared everything good” I mean I’m glad someone finally put my thoughts to words.
7. “Sin distorts all relationships, including our relationship with food” 2 pages of pure goodness highlighting every line.
I’m sure I will re read or recommend to a friend at some point in the future!
January 30, 2025
I enjoyed reading this book, especially for its exegesis and theologizing. His explanation of the purpose (Why?) and means (How?) behind the Son of Man's coming to earth really highlights both the simplicity and importance of hospitality. I also appreciated the chapter-by-chapter building into what our eating actually does for us and in us.
Two frustrations: 1) The book is billed as primarily about "our" eating, but I would more properly classify it as a theology of Christ's eating (with some implications for us). The end result? He does not illustrate our eating much, and he does not specifically address our eating as communities in great detail. 2) When he does illustrate, it is most often related to the Lord's Supper, and I found his work here less than compelling. He conflates the love feast with the Supper, and though they may have happened at the same time often, he fails to fence the table meaningful. Also, he downgrades the importance of corporate worship in my view.
With these things being said, I found the book enjoyable, insightful, and worth reading. With an intentional eye toward life in community, readers can do much of the application work on their own or together with friends.
Two frustrations: 1) The book is billed as primarily about "our" eating, but I would more properly classify it as a theology of Christ's eating (with some implications for us). The end result? He does not illustrate our eating much, and he does not specifically address our eating as communities in great detail. 2) When he does illustrate, it is most often related to the Lord's Supper, and I found his work here less than compelling. He conflates the love feast with the Supper, and though they may have happened at the same time often, he fails to fence the table meaningful. Also, he downgrades the importance of corporate worship in my view.
With these things being said, I found the book enjoyable, insightful, and worth reading. With an intentional eye toward life in community, readers can do much of the application work on their own or together with friends.
January 6, 2020
"Jesus got himself killed because of the way he ate."(30) I never noticed how food was such a central feature of Christ's ministry (he came "eating and drinking" says Lk 7:34) and portrayed so much about his mission and identity as the true Moses and better Elijah. This book was thought-provoking in multiple ways for me. I never realized Jesus received hospitality more than he gave it (96). I never thought much of how (and what) Jesus ate while he was on earth. I never considered how church potlucks can be merely institutionalized hospitality. I never heard of having communion with a smaller group of people while sharing a word of encouragement and short prayer for one another instead of the "strangely solitary" nature this ritual has in most churches (119).
I would commend Calvin to Chester as he seems to be wrestling with what the mystery of the Lord's Supper entails.
Because of this book I am now fully convinced our dinner table is a sacred place and I will be anticipating seeing glimpses of Christ as we gather with friends new and old. In ordinary, messy, everyday hospitality (as opposed to the stressful theatrics of entertaining) Jesus shows up.
I would commend Calvin to Chester as he seems to be wrestling with what the mystery of the Lord's Supper entails.
Because of this book I am now fully convinced our dinner table is a sacred place and I will be anticipating seeing glimpses of Christ as we gather with friends new and old. In ordinary, messy, everyday hospitality (as opposed to the stressful theatrics of entertaining) Jesus shows up.
June 30, 2019
#needanewhighlighter
And I tend not to overhighlight in general, but sat down wanting to really process this one. Know what I had questions about, wanted to come back to, what resonated with me. Found that most pages were highlighted in multiple places. It’s that good.
And reading it doesn’t leave you feeling either crummy about yourself for what you’re not doing or better about yourself for what you already believe. It was challenging without being preachy and exegetical without being academic. Good mix of biblical theology, real-life ministry stories and practical things you could try out in basically any context. Lots of things to talk about in your current community, if you have one (you’ll find encouragement to find one soon, if you don’t).
Something I definitely plan to read again (not a “re-reader” in general), and likely will come back to before that for other morsels. The section on the church’s Communion celebration was worth the cost of admission and I’ll be back for more!
And I tend not to overhighlight in general, but sat down wanting to really process this one. Know what I had questions about, wanted to come back to, what resonated with me. Found that most pages were highlighted in multiple places. It’s that good.
And reading it doesn’t leave you feeling either crummy about yourself for what you’re not doing or better about yourself for what you already believe. It was challenging without being preachy and exegetical without being academic. Good mix of biblical theology, real-life ministry stories and practical things you could try out in basically any context. Lots of things to talk about in your current community, if you have one (you’ll find encouragement to find one soon, if you don’t).
Something I definitely plan to read again (not a “re-reader” in general), and likely will come back to before that for other morsels. The section on the church’s Communion celebration was worth the cost of admission and I’ll be back for more!
February 15, 2025
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”-Luke 7:34 NIV
I took my time reading this book because of the depth and breadth of this simple topic—Eating.
Jesus used meals as a way to minister grace, mercy, loving kindness, warning, healing and administer justice for those who were rejected. Everyone is invited. Jesus used food to teach The Kingdom of God. I will never look at The Last Supper, The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair or the dinner parties outlined throughout the Book of Luke the same!
Mr. Chester, carefully lays out what it means to be an ambassador of the goodness of God through Christ Jesus. He is very strategic outlining biblical history and uniquely folding it into present day relevance.
This book can be used as a deep study guide on how to fulfill your purpose. How to use a “meal” as a metaphor of community and missions in our churches and personal lives.
I took my time reading this book because of the depth and breadth of this simple topic—Eating.
Jesus used meals as a way to minister grace, mercy, loving kindness, warning, healing and administer justice for those who were rejected. Everyone is invited. Jesus used food to teach The Kingdom of God. I will never look at The Last Supper, The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair or the dinner parties outlined throughout the Book of Luke the same!
Mr. Chester, carefully lays out what it means to be an ambassador of the goodness of God through Christ Jesus. He is very strategic outlining biblical history and uniquely folding it into present day relevance.
This book can be used as a deep study guide on how to fulfill your purpose. How to use a “meal” as a metaphor of community and missions in our churches and personal lives.
May 9, 2025
This book should probably be categorised or titled as a book about the dicipline/gift of hospitality. I thought it was quite good, though it was a little erratic I would class it a 'milk, not meat'. Hospitality is so important, and I think its a key that's missing in our current culture and the western church., this book was a great reminder.
A few quotes I saved:
The focus of entertainment is impressing others the focus of hospitality is serving others.
"Give us this day our daily bread." That is how Jesus teaches us to pray. We need to pray for our daily bread, not because we're worried where our next meal might come from, but because we're not. We not only express our dependence on God by feasting, but by fasting.
The broken and marginalised tend to avoid church, that could only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers, and the practice of our parishioners doesnt have the same affect that Jesus had, we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.
A few quotes I saved:
The focus of entertainment is impressing others the focus of hospitality is serving others.
"Give us this day our daily bread." That is how Jesus teaches us to pray. We need to pray for our daily bread, not because we're worried where our next meal might come from, but because we're not. We not only express our dependence on God by feasting, but by fasting.
The broken and marginalised tend to avoid church, that could only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers, and the practice of our parishioners doesnt have the same affect that Jesus had, we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.
May 28, 2018
Wow did I love this book read for the College Sunday School at Redeemer! From the beginning surprise reminder that Jesus didn’t just come “to seek and save the lost” but also “eating and drinking” which is the foundation of these chapters which teach us lessons through the various accounts of Christ eating in the gospels.
I loved the reminder that Jesus, coming to earth in humanity, also humbled himself by “needing” or “replying” on food/eating.
I’ve also spend many hours contemplating the ideas of hospitality vs entertaining described in this book—basically hospitality being focused on others and their needs and entertaining focused inward on our needs and desire to be looked up to.
I’ll be “digesting” the Ideas in this book a lot more in the coming days and weeks.
I loved the reminder that Jesus, coming to earth in humanity, also humbled himself by “needing” or “replying” on food/eating.
I’ve also spend many hours contemplating the ideas of hospitality vs entertaining described in this book—basically hospitality being focused on others and their needs and entertaining focused inward on our needs and desire to be looked up to.
I’ll be “digesting” the Ideas in this book a lot more in the coming days and weeks.
January 14, 2022
Tim Chester’s A Meal with Jesus is for those that wish to take a deeper look into Jesus’s seemingly mundane act of eating in scripture to show the true beauty of community that God designed from the very beginning. Food brings people together. That isn’t cultural, it was intentionally designed that way by our creator. Chester does a great job of providing a plethora of Biblical stories and modern metaphors to make that connection.
Honesty, this book challenged me as well. It revealed to me the importance of letting the Spirit lead us in sharing the gospel. Chester gives some great examples of living out a testimony to others daily in just how you respond to the world around you.
I give this book 5 stars and hope to have the chance to read it again this year!
Honesty, this book challenged me as well. It revealed to me the importance of letting the Spirit lead us in sharing the gospel. Chester gives some great examples of living out a testimony to others daily in just how you respond to the world around you.
I give this book 5 stars and hope to have the chance to read it again this year!
February 9, 2024
Tim Chester has done a great job of introducing a biblical theology of food and feasting in the presence of the Lord. Like others before him, Chester uses the many meals with Jesus in Luke’s Gospel as the bases of his study. But in this brief book, he goes beyond the gospel of Luke, and presents a basic biblical theology of food from creation (Genesis) to consummation (Revelation).
It’s a short book, so it doesn’t cover everything and there will be areas of disagreement with Chester’s conclusions or applications. But he does not fail to give you food for thought! Pun intended! This book will be a catalyst for you to think more, study more, apply more, and teach more on the aspect of feasting (eating and drinking) in the Bible.
Come and dine with Jesus!
It’s a short book, so it doesn’t cover everything and there will be areas of disagreement with Chester’s conclusions or applications. But he does not fail to give you food for thought! Pun intended! This book will be a catalyst for you to think more, study more, apply more, and teach more on the aspect of feasting (eating and drinking) in the Bible.
Come and dine with Jesus!
September 27, 2018
This book was really good. I was skeptical when I first picked it up because I think we have downplayed the importance and spirituality of food in America, but so glad that I did. I don't think I will ever read the Book of Luke the same. I think I will read Jesus through a different lens and my personal walk with Jesus will reflect principles that I found in this book. I would recommend any Christian to read this book.
March 7, 2023
There are some aspects I would graciously differ with Chester on unless he were able to clarify further (such as his offhanded comment at one point that church should be more like a party...if he means the actual services, definite disagreement, but if he means like...the community/fellowship aspect of church? I could understand a little more), but he draws some lovely connections of food and fellowship and faith from Jesus' interactions with meals in the gospel of Luke that I really enjoyed. Bit of a mixed bag but an enjoyable one when read with attention.
March 30, 2024
Discover the hospitality, love, and sacrifice of Christ as he sits, serves, speaks, and eats with sinners just like us. Tim Chester highlights six meals from the Luke's Gospel where Jesus reveals himself as the Son of Man who came eating and drinking, serving and dying, in order to save sinners. So pull up a chair, grab a fork, and savor the sweetness found in the gospel, which is graciously served up by Chester in these pages.
April 12, 2020
Rich, satisfying, inspiring. A must read for those looking to make their Christian community richer, understand and fall in love with the Lord's supper, understand how we can bring justice to our communities with food, and how eating and drinking is ultimately a literal foretaste of what the kingdom of God will be like in the new creation. Loved it.
March 22, 2022
“Jesus got himself killed because of the way he ate.”
Ahhhh, no. That is not even close to it.
I felt there were times in this book the author was a little condescending. An example is here, when he’s talking about feeding the poor and not sitting with them:
“If you tell someone they are a sinner who needs God- then he will hear “he’s a loser who should become like you.”
There were some theology issues I had in the book- like when he said “Zacchaeus clearly loved money because he sacrificed social acceptance to gain it and made himself an enemy of God”— we are already enemies of God. Until we ask for forgiveness and accept him as our Savior, then we are enemies of God.
2 stars. I see what the author was trying to do & write about.
Ahhhh, no. That is not even close to it.
I felt there were times in this book the author was a little condescending. An example is here, when he’s talking about feeding the poor and not sitting with them:
“If you tell someone they are a sinner who needs God- then he will hear “he’s a loser who should become like you.”
There were some theology issues I had in the book- like when he said “Zacchaeus clearly loved money because he sacrificed social acceptance to gain it and made himself an enemy of God”— we are already enemies of God. Until we ask for forgiveness and accept him as our Savior, then we are enemies of God.
2 stars. I see what the author was trying to do & write about.
June 22, 2025
I greatly enjoyed reading this. One of my constant longings as a believer is for a deeper sense of community. Chester takes a part of my life that I didn’t really think about and shows how the Lord works through meals. He cast a great vision for what mission and community could look like through meals.
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