How Big Is God's Table?

If you're familiar with the teachings of Jesus, then you know that one of the central elements of Christianity is the remembrance of the Last Supper.

At the Last Supper (which was during Passover), Jesus invited twelve of his closest followers to the table.

But during the three years leading up to that particular supper, Jesus was known for inviting lots of people, mostly those on the fringes, to share a meal.

They included tax collectors, prostitutes, known sinners and common folk. Which really irked the Pharisees and Saducees (the religious establishment of his day).

They were upset because they felt that only those who believed what they believed and followed the law according to their strict interpretation of it were worthy of an invite.

All others were not welcome. They were considered unclean, unapproachable and of no significance.

Then Jesus came and for three years really upset the apple cart.

Jesus mixed and mingled freely with everyone. He wasn't a traditional rabbi. He openly spoke to anyone who would listen to him. Pretty much running an open air synagogue.

The hospitality of Jesus was radially inclusive.

If you look at the New Testament, focusing on the times Jesus had a meal with others, quite often it was with those that the religious leaders considered unworthy or unclean.

Jesus was the opposite of a social climber.

From the moment that he was born it's almost as if he went out of his way to remain an outsider while inviting those on the fringes into his father's kingdom.

Unflinching to the social norms of his day, he was determined to open his arms wide towards the stranger, the broken, the ill, the poor, the downcast.

In response to others wanting to put him in box, Jesus kept on building a bigger table with an eye for those who didn't seem to fit in anywhere else.

One of the best known instances of this is recorded in Mark 2:16-17: "While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's (Matthew's) house, many tax collectors and 'sinners' were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the 'sinners' and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?' On hearing this Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" (NIV)

From Jesus' own actions and words, it appears that he came to earth to gather up as many physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually broken individuals as possible into his family. He formed a kingdom made up of misfits.

The Church is at its best when it remembers where it came from. Born among the refugees, a friend to immigrants.

Jesus said he only did what God told him to do, and it seems like God wasn't interested in building a "great" kingdom - at least not in the sense that we know it. The apostles weren't CEOs, most of them were fisherman. Jesus spent the majority of his time on earth in small towns within Galilee, not Jerusalem, and he never got as far as Rome (which was the major world power).

At God's table there is no status, no social hierarchy, no VIP access, no gold seats, no borders, no walls. There's no lack, so there's always room for more. There's no fear, only love.

Photo credits: top Liturgy NZ, bottom Elizabeth Hagan.