Pieces of the Puzzle

Most of us know what happens when there are more people than places at the table.

Someone scoots over. Someone finds another chair. Plates get moved a little closer together. Another place setting appears.

Somehow, we make room.

And when we pull up another chair, we are saying more than, “There’s enough space.” We are saying, “There’s a place for you here.”

There is a difference between welcoming someone and actually making room for them. Making room means another person’s presence matters enough that we are willing to adjust. We move over. We create space. We make room not simply in the room, but in our lives.

That distinction matters for anyone trying to follow Jesus.

The Gospels repeatedly show Jesus making room for people others would rather keep at a distance. One of the clearest examples comes in Luke 5:27–32, where Jesus encounters a tax collector named Levi.

Before long, Jesus is sitting at a table surrounded by exactly the sort of people some believed should not be there.

Jesus Makes Room for Levi

The story begins with a familiar invitation. Jesus sees Levi sitting at a tax collection booth and says:

“Follow me.” — Luke 5:27

But notice who receives the invitation.

Levi is a tax collector.

Tax collectors were not simply unpopular in Jesus’ day. They worked within a system that collected money for Rome, the occupying power, and that system provided plenty of opportunity for dishonesty and exploitation. For many people, Levi would have been someone to avoid, not someone to invite into your circle.

Yet Jesus sees something others do not.

The people around Levi may have believed they already knew who he was and what kind of future was possible for someone like him. Jesus refuses to allow Levi’s past to determine the limits of Levi’s future. Jesus sees someone who can follow, grow, serve, and become part of what God is doing in the world.

So Jesus says, “Follow me.”

And Luke tells us:

“Leaving everything behind, Levi got up and followed him.” — Luke 5:28

Notice the order: grace comes first.

Jesus makes room for Levi before Levi has done anything to prove himself. Change will come—Jesus makes that clear later in the story—but change is not the price Levi pays to receive the invitation.

The relationship begins because Jesus makes room for him.

Then something beautiful happens.

The person for whom Jesus has made room begins making room for others.

Levi Pulls Up More Chairs

Luke tells us:

“Then Levi threw a great banquet for Jesus in his home. A large number of tax collectors and others sat down to eat with them.” — Luke 5:29

Levi has only just begun following Jesus, and one of the first things he does is create space for other people to meet him.

He does not abandon all his old relationships. He invites the people he already knows to share a table with Jesus.

Imagine that table.

These are people who probably know what it feels like to be avoided, judged, or kept at a distance. Now there is a place for them.

A chair has been pulled up. Food is being passed. Stories are being shared. And Jesus is right there in the middle of it all.

Perhaps this is one of the simplest pictures of evangelism we could imagine.

Levi does not have all the answers. He does not treat the people he knows like projects. He simply creates a place where they can encounter Jesus for themselves.

Sometimes that happens around an actual table. Sometimes it begins with a conversation, a friendship, a cup of coffee, or simply taking the time to hear someone’s story.

We make room for people to encounter the Christ who has made room for us.

But not everyone is pleased with Levi’s guest list.

When the Table Gets Uncomfortable

Luke tells us that the Pharisees and their legal experts complain to Jesus’ disciples:

“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” — Luke 5:30

Their concern is not simply that Jesus talks to these people. Jesus eats with them.

In Jesus’ world, sharing a table communicated relationship and belonging. That is precisely what makes this meal uncomfortable.

Jesus keeps ending up at tables with the “wrong” people.

Before criticizing the Pharisees too quickly, however, it may be worth considering how naturally we do something similar. Most of us gravitate toward people we know and understand. We prefer the company of people who make us comfortable, share our assumptions, or see the world much as we do.

So Levi’s table raises an uncomfortable question:

Who could Jesus bring to the table that I would struggle to sit beside?

Who am I tempted to keep at a distance? Whose story have I already decided I understand? Who have I quietly concluded does not belong?

Jesus responds to the criticism:

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.” — Luke 5:31–32

Jesus is not at Levi’s table because nothing matters.

Jesus is there because people matter.

The table is not the end of discipleship. It creates space where discipleship can begin.

Jesus comes near. Relationships form. Grace works. Hearts and lives begin to change.

Grace creates places where transformation can happen.

Sometimes that place is as ordinary as a table with another chair pulled up.

Welcome Is More Than Being Friendly

Paul offers a similar vision in his letter to the Romans:

“So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.” — Romans 15:7

Paul is writing to Christians who do not always agree. They come from different backgrounds, hold different convictions, and have different understandings about how their faith should be lived out (Romans 14:1–6).

Apparently, making room for one another was no easier for the early church than it is today.

Paul does not pretend their differences are meaningless. Nor does he tell them to determine who is right and ask everyone else to leave.

Instead, he calls them to a way of life in which our own preferences do not always come first:

“We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good in order to build them up.” — Romans 15:1–2

Sometimes love asks us to adjust. Sometimes love asks us to listen to someone whose experience is different from our own. Sometimes love asks us to move over and make room.

That does not mean ignoring healthy boundaries or pretending that harmful behavior is harmless. Christian hospitality does not require abandoning wisdom, accountability, or safety.

But hospitality does require more than toleration.

Toleration says, “I suppose you can stay.”

Hospitality says, “There is room for you here.”

Levi’s story pushes that idea even further. The person beside us is not simply someone we allow into the community. They are someone Christ may be calling, shaping, and using as part of the community.

We are not people graciously making space for outsiders at our table.

We are all people for whom Christ has made space.

Who Is Missing From the Table?

That brings the question closer to home.

Who is already in your life for whom there might be room for a deeper relationship?

Whose story have you never really heard?

Who do you see regularly but rarely notice?

Who might need someone to move over and pull up a chair?

It does not have to begin with something dramatic.

Notice one person. Learn one name. Hear one story. Share one meal. Ask one question and stay long enough to hear the answer.

Because we never know what God might do in the space we create when another person discovers, “There is room for me here.”

And perhaps you are not ready to pull up a chair for someone else. Perhaps what you need most today is to know that Christ has made room for you.

That is where Christian hospitality begins.

Not with our ability to be sufficiently welcoming. Not with our determination to become better people. Not with our ability to earn a place at the table.

It begins with grace.

Christ sees us. Christ calls us. Christ welcomes us. And those who discover they have been welcomed by grace can begin extending that grace to others.

As Paul writes:

“So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.” — Romans 15:7

Grace received becomes hospitality offered.

So look around your table. Look around your neighborhood, workplace, community, and everyday life.

And ask a simple question:

Is there room for one more?

Maybe there is one more chair to pull up.

One more story to hear.

One more person to see.

Because Christ has made room for us.

And people who gather around Christ’s table will always be learning how to pull up another chair.

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Scripture References: Luke 5:27–32; Romans 14:1–6; Romans 15:1–7