party time

Last night in our "Saving Jesus" class, the commentators of our video considered the question, "Did Jesus hold services or throw parties?" Their contention was that Jesus went from neighborhood to neighborhood throwing parties with expansive guest lists that included people from all social classes and even mixed religious backgrounds. This activity was considered revolutionary because it brought people together across socially, politically and religiously enforced lines. The Roman Empire effectively worked to keep these people of various classes and backgrounds separate and hating one another, thus ensuring centralized Roman power and a dis-empowered general populous.
I think it's time for the people of God to start throwing parties again--celebrations of God that bridge social, economic, political and ethnic barriers. We need to stretch our invitation list beyond our comfort zone. Anything less than a well-attended Jesus party will never accomplish the ministry and witness that Jesus did.
Jesus self-proclaimed mission is found in Luke 4:18-19, 18 when he reads a passage from Isaiah 61, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come." What better way to say that than to throw a party in Jesus's honor?
p lou