The power of a table: What kind of community do you want?

I read a quote the other day, you know the ones that people have on their fridges? It read, "The fondest memories are made gathered around the table." 

 The power of simple table is often overlooked and neglected. During lockdown it's absence has probably been the greatest battle to overcome. By the way, I totally agree with that quote...my fondest moments have been made around a table as well as my most painful ones too. Usually pain flows from a table that has been created to reinforce who's 'in' and who's 'out' and boy have I had a few of those over the last few years.   I can't remember who said it but I do recall the quote, "If you've not been invited to the table it's usually because you're on the menu."   Being a divorced former church leader who decided to live rather than die has provided a rich menu for many.

I remember as a small boy the laughter, the jokes, the stories that used to fly around as my older brothers and sister and their partners would gather maybe for the 1st time in 12 months. I could never have believed that such a simple domestic object could have so much power and yet it did. For me it restored relationships and created heroes, it was a place of safety and security, it inspired me to dream, it was a place of encouragement and affirmation, it was a place of unity, it helped form deeper connections…it actually created community. 

 Who’d have thought it, a simple table, laden with food and drink with space for all could create a different type of community.  Jesus knew the power that lay in a table. He was a genius for taking everyday sights, sounds and objects and turning them into living stained glass windows through which he could project onto our hearts the limitless and outrageous dimensions of Abba's love for each and everyone of us.    The Pharisees had hijacked 'the table' and used it as a tool for measuring purity, holiness and goodness - Jesus had to reclaim and restore the true meaning of a table. 

For a first century Jew being welcomed at a table for the purpose of eating with another person had become a ceremony richly symbolic of friendship, intimacy and unity.  Even everyday mealtimes were highly complex events with current social values, boundaries, statuses and hierarchies all reinforced. You either ate with your extended family or you ate with people of your own class. Boundaries were firmly in place, hierarchy reinforced and status honoured.   It was a place of division, a place for discovering whether you were ‘in’ or whether you were ‘out’.   You only invited for a meal those you knew were in a position to return the favour.   The table was no longer about generosity and hospitality this was politics and mutual back-scratching. 

 Those that belonged to priestly families had -for 6 weeks of the year - to separate themselves from those around them and live extra pure lives, making sure they didn’t come into contact with sinners, gentiles and those who were sick or ill.   The Pharisees started to enforce such a radical interpretation of the table across all of the community.   They demanded that everyone take up these laws AND not just for 6 weeks but for every day of the year.    Ordinary lay people now had to watch what they ate and who they ate with.   According to the Pharisees your table customs became a measurement of how committed you were to the law (Torah) and how passionate you were for God. Anyone challenging these customs would be seen as toxic to society and someone who definitely needed to be silenced, someone who was anti-God. 

That’s why when the Pharisees saw what Jesus was doing they immediately ‘denounced’ His table customs,calling him ‘a glutton and a drunkard’ and even accusing him of having a ‘demon’ (anti-God). ‘Glutton and Drunkard’ was a legal technical expression and not just some petty name calling. This was a serious allegation.  It was used in the past by parents who were exasperated and embarrassed by the actions of a rebellious and wayward son. They would take him to the elders, who if found guilty, would then have him stoned to death.   The Pharisees were passing judgement on Jesus’ practices.   They saw in the people who sat with Jesus around his table a society that they didn’t want. 

How could tax-collectors, sinners, prostitutes and gentiles form a pure enough community that would please God? How could God look favourably on this community? How dare this man renegotiate the boundaries of who’s in and who’s out! They wanted a society of saints…and the stakes were so high that they were willing to kill anyone who threatened to tear down their boundaries. 

You see, the table…a simple table has the power to create a community. The question is, ‘what kind of community do you want?’ For Jesus the table was a place of fellowship, inclusion and acceptance. The table embodied his creed, love God…love others. It was a place of grace. The table was the only piece of furniture and equipment that Jesus had at the centre of his church. 

Read through the gospels and you’ll be amazed to see just what took place when Jesus sat at a table… 

Sat at a table belonging to Simon the leper (huge statement in itself) and a woman performs an act of outrageous worship.

Sat at a table with his disciples he challenges them to take this message of love God…love others to the ends of the world. 

Sat a table belonging to a Pharisee a prostitute discovers the forgiveness that she has so desperately searched for. 

Sat at a table Jesus urges his followers to avoid the desire to clamour for status and hierarchy. His table was about humility, serving one another. 

Sat at a table Jesus picks up a towel and bowl of water and treats his guest with a display of servanthood that is to be our pattern. (He washed the feet of his guests. He served them, he stooped for them, he bent for them and not the other way around.) 

Sat at a table Jesus utters these words to his followers - John 13:34-35 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." 

The day after Boxing day. 

The day after Boxing day was for me a day I looked forward to the most. It was the day when Bentley clans met. We would drive from all over the UK and come together at my sisters house and gather around a table. What I loved most about my sister and this day was that she had no idea how many people would turn up and yet there was always room for more, there was always more food, everyone was made welcome. 

The table of Jesus was an open door. For the Pharisees, their table created a wall. The religious table required purity before you could sit down. Jesus’ table created purity as you sat down with him and his followers. When people discover a table like the one Jesus created, a place of grace, then people will travel for miles to encounter the love and grace that flows from it. 

 Look who Jesus invites to his table, those who are told they’re spiritually sick, judged by God and incapable of receiving the love of God. Look at Zachaeus, Jesus doesn’t have to say a word to him, the mere fact that he chose to eat with him rather than ostracise him opens the heart of Zachaeus up and causes him to change. 

Such a simple and uncomplicated physical object can create the space for a grace explosion. A place that says, “I choose to love you rather than judge you, serve you rather than shun you.” Isn’t this table a picture of what ‘church’ is supposed to be all about? 

Our most vulnerable members of our community lacks confidence in the church because it’s not sure what kind of table is waiting for it on the others side of the entrance.   Is it invite only? Is it a shirt and tie only do? Is it reserved for family only? Some churches don’t even have a table. No wonder some people choose to eat at other restaurants. Is there room at your table for those that have tough questions of sexual identity, or tough life issues like those with addictions? Is there room at your table for those who are hungry, those with marriage and family problems, and those who need guidance? 

 There’s nothing in this world that creates a community like a table. Jesus redefined what it meant to be human, he demonstrated a new design for living and contained within it, at the centre of it you’ll find a simple, everyday and ordinary object…a table.