I love studying Jesus. I’ve counted myself a follower for over twenty years now and he still takes my breath away. When I dig into the pages of scripture I still find myself captivated by him, fascinated by him and often surprised by him.

The only thing I love more than digging into the person of Jesus personally is getting to do it with others.

This past Sunday we gathered with the missionaries and missional communities that make up our church family to study the person of Jesus together. Each table was given a passage from the gospels to dig into and was challenged to together answer three questions: 1, what does this passage tell us about God? 2, what does it tell us about humanity? And 3, how ought we to respond?

After a half hour or so we heard from each table what their time of reflection and conversation had revealed. As we went around the room we captured as many of the insights as we could on a white board. It was such a beautiful and powerful time of getting to hear from the entire body.

I’ve been reflecting on our time together over the past week and here are some of the common threads and insights that emerged from our time together:

1. It seems Jesus was almost always either sharing a meal, coming from a meal or heading to a meal. Table fellowship was central to his ministry (and to that of the early church). 

   This is something the church desperately needs to recapture. For those who are in Christ, our tables are far more potent ministry tools than any pulpit ever will be.

2. The way Jesus practiced table fellowship was nothing short of radical. Long-held categories were dismissed and racial, sociological and religious walls torn down. 

   Implication? If our tables are reserved only for those who look like us, we are doing it wrong.

3. Jesus was regularly criticized by religious professionals for the company he kept. He spent so much time eating and drinking with misfits that he himself developed a reputation for being a drunk and a glutton. 

   It's funny the places, people and activities church folk will avoid for the sake of their comfort and reputation, isn’t it? Suffice to say Jesus had a very different set of priorities.

4. The religious elite were repelled by Jesus. The irreligious and notoriously sinful were drawn to him. 

   This is a truth we should probably all just sit on for a while. How is it that the lives of so many who claim the name of Jesus today illicit precisely the opposite response? What kind of people might we need to become to flip the script on this?

5. Jesus lived out "grace and truth" in a way that helped people see themselves for who they really are.

   Interestingly, this seemed to be bad news to those convinced of their own righteousness and good news to those who knew they fell short.

6. Jesus regularly describes the kingdom of God as a party. Perhaps it should not surprise us then to find that his life and ministry were often characterized by feasting and celebration. 

   What a contrast this was to the joyless, strait-laced, tight-lipped, obligation-ridden, oh-so-serious religion of his contemporaries. Implication? Any discipleship process that does not involve feasting and celebration isn’t nearly Jesus-shaped enough.

7. God not only goes to the unimpressive. He calls the unimpressive.

   No coach in his right mind would have picked the team Jesus picked. No venture capital firm would have thought an investment in this group and mission would have been a wise one. Jesus’ crew included all kinds of misfits, underdogs and characters of ill repute. Why should our churches, teams and missional communities be any different?

8. Ours is a God who enters fully into the mess of humanity.

   He's fully present. He's all in. He’s not surprised by anything He finds there. He comes to us anyway. And then He calls us to do the same for others. To enter into the mess in order to extend the same kind of life, hope and grace to others that that He extends to us.

9. Ours is a God who is full of surprises.

   As we see so vividly in the life of Jesus, God rarely comes to us in the ways we expect. He regularly invites us into opportunities we could never foresee. He loves to see us in over our heads, where our illusions of control are taken away, our skills just don't seem to cut it and we are forced to trust Him. Real spiritual maturity isn't learning how to manage these moments out of our lives. It's learning how to step into them with regularity, faith and expectation.

10. Who we really are really matters.

    If we are bitter, angry, entitled or proud, we bring all of that into the spaces and relationships we occupy. Likewise if we are kind, gracious, generous and loving, we bring this too in those spaces and relationships. Consider that Jesus and the religious elite found themselves in the same place on a fairly regular basis. How people experienced them, however, couldn't have been more different. All said, it's not enough to just throw parties or be present. We need to do so as a people who are actively walking with and being shaped by our rabbi Jesus.