Here is one of the best short descriptions of Jesus’ public ministry: “Jesus ate good food with bad people.” The story told in today’s gospel text, however, reveals that the “bad people” Jesus often dined with are not the ones we usually think of. Those whom the culture crowned with honor and respect are revealed to be the very ones who have most failed to extend honor and respect to God’s favored and God’s prophets.

With our fast-food, dine-out, delivered-in, eat-on-the-run lifestyles, the whole notion of dining decorum has become almost obsolete. But one of the distinguishing characteristics of any culture is the rituals and behaviors that are associated with breaking bread together.

The meal scene depicted in today’s Luke text reflects a Greco-Roman “symposia,” a formal banquet that …