The word 'table' is mentioned 22 times in the Gospels. There
is the overturning of the tables at the Temple
This is not a post about eating around a table, though. It
is about justice and sharing and distribution. When Jesus talked about how we
were to fellowship with other people and how we were to share our food, he was
not just concerned about eating. For the way we shared food and fellowshipped
together said something about our heart. Therefore it should not be limited to
the dining room table and forgotten the minute we do the washing up. His words
about meals and fellowship are to guide the way we live our lives.
But we also need a broader definition of table. When Jesus
says neighbour, he does not just mean the people who live on either side of us.
And when Jesus says table he doesn't just mean the people we may be likely to
share a meal with. God's love is global. It is not limited to one country, one
race or even one species. Therefore how we think about table fellowship must be
global too.
One of the most memorable passages about the 'table' comes in
Luke 14:7-14 :
When he noticed how
the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable: “When
someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a
person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host
who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’
Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But
when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he
will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured
in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt
themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Then Jesus said to his
host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends,
your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do,
they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a
banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will
be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the
resurrection of the righteous.”
This is one of my favourite passages in the bible. It says
so much about humility and generosity. If everyone lived by this passage, I
think the world would be a much better place.
But it has some very important things to say to us if we
consider the table as the world. Do people in first world countries give
themselves the place of honour? That's undoubtedly a yes. If we consider the
world's resources as a meal, who gets invited? The poor, the crippled, the lame
and the blind? Or the rich neighbours living in first world countries? And what
about other non-human species? They very rarely get invited to the meal at all.
Instead of inviting the people that Jesus tells us to invite, we first world
countries sit inside while the rest of the world is lucky to get our crumbs.
The rest of the world is a bit like Lazarus, wanting to eat
what fell from the rich man's table:
“There was a rich man
who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At
his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing
to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his
sores. (Luke 16:19-21)
Most will know the story ends with Lazarus in Heaven and the
rich man in Hell, begging Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and
cool his tongue, because he is in agony.
How many are by our gates, begging for what falls from our
table? Whenever I think of the inequality between first world and third world
countries, Lazarus comes to mind. The rich man probably didn't even know that
Lazarus was by his gate. He was too far beneath the rich man's notice. Not
knowing the inequality in the way the world's resources are distributed is no
excuse.
We can also imagine Lazarus as future generations, sitting
by our gates, begging us to leave some of the world's resources for them,
instead of using it all up ourselves before they are even born.
And of course, one of the most memorable events to ever
happen at a table was when Jesus held the Last Supper. In Jesus and the Earth
(2003), James Jones discusses this event in relation to the inequality in the
world's consumption:
He gave us an activity
by which to remember him and invoke his presence. It was and is an act of
consumption - eating and drinking, bread and wine. Imagine around that table of
13 people if only four were allowed to partake and nine were excluded. Such an
act of greedy consumption on the part of the four simply would not have been
tolerated by the son of man who in Matthew 25
chides those who ignore the needs and rights of others to consume.
Jesus broke all the rules when it came to table fellowship.
He ate with sinners, tax-collectors and prostitutes. But if we take his words
about table fellowship and think we're following them because we've invited a
few poor people to a meal, we're missing the point. Table fellowship is about
so much more than just a meal. It is about how we share and distribute what we
have. It's about what's in our heart.
The world is a table. Some get invited to the meal. Some get
excluded. Some have all the fancy food. Some get nothing but crumbs. For Jesus'
last meal, he didn't even exclude the one who would betray him. Exclusion from
a meal just wasn't part of who he was. As Christ-followers, we should do all we
can to include everyone at our table too. We must also ensure that everyone gets
a place at the global table of the world's resources.
