Why is having a meal in someone's home important for truly getting to know them?
A meal in someone's home matters because casual relationships, even seeing someone once or twice a week, do not reveal who they truly are. When they invite you in for a meal, their family life—children and grandchildren—and personal reality are laid out, so you genuinely get to know them.
Les explains that in the early church, separated from mainstream Judaism, believers could really talk together only in their own little groups of fellowship, and they would have their meals together. He says you can know someone ever so long in casual relationships, maybe see them once or twice a week, but you don't really get to know them, their children, and their grandchildren until they invite you into their home for a meal. He adds that he is not begging for a meal, but they have experienced it often: when someone invites them into their home for a meal, then everything is just laid out.