At the Table
We welcome all kinds of broken people to the table where they can pour out their hearts and receive healing in the name of Jesus.
Around an overflowing table, Greek families regularly gather to unify themselves on issues important to culture, country, and family. Members who fail to conform to those deeply held traditions and ideologies risk shame, rejection, or worse. Conversely, when Jesus reclined at the table, he confronted enemies, defended sinners, and forgave what seemed unforgivable. To the little table just outside my door, we welcome all kinds of broken people to pour out their hearts and receive healing in the name of Jesus.
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The frequent gathering of extended family to share in the entire culinary process, from shopping for fresh vegetables to cleaning up the plates, quickly reveals itself as essential to Greek CULTURE. Around an overflowing table, loved ones gather to decide political positions, examine economic fluctuations, discuss philosophical ideologies, and establish social hierarchies. The whole family addresses moral failings, interpersonal conflicts, healthcare planning, career decisions, and so much more. As one Greek man said, “It all happens at the table.”
The most prominent table from the Old Testament rested inside the Tabernacle where God told Israel to “put the bread of the Presence on this table.” In the New Testament, though, biblical authors recorded JESUS, the very bread of life and Presence incarnate, reclining at the table where he confronted enemies, defended sinners, and forgave what seemed unforgivable. One of history’s most memorable moments between Jesus and his disciples happened at the table and continues even today.
The overwhelming sadness I experienced on the Areopagus in Athens filled me with compassion for people SEPARATED from God by culture, authority, and tradition; for people traumatized, afraid, or abused; for people rejected, ashamed, or forgotten; and for people sorrowful, grieving, or hopeless. For these people, the ones who fail to conform to deeply ingrained tradition and ideology, our table becomes a safe place where they can sit down and find healing in the name of Jesus.
Being fully present in the life of the shop keeper, the taverna owner, the clinic nurse, the laundromat operator, the police officer, the supermarket cashier, the restaurant server, or the bus driver creates an opportunity to INVITE them, along with all their hurts, to the little table just outside my door, or the dinner table inside my home, or the dining table at their home, or the café table lining the little cobblestone paths or taverna table lining the waterfront, or a devoted space filled with little tables.
I imagine welcoming all kinds of broken people to sit at that little TABLE, listening quietly as they pour out their hearts, speaking healing in the name of Jesus, and inviting them to the Healer. I imagine throwing an extravagant dinner party with personalized, hand-delivered invitations to a beautiful table set with names at each place and where there’s room for everyone. I imagine forming lasting relationships based on the unconditional love of Jesus.
SCRIPTURE affirms this approach to ministry. “People will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:29, ESV). “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1, ESV). “Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands” (Isaiah 42:12, NIV). Will you join us in prayer for those who come to the table?
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