Where would I … we … be without the incredible love of God, and His grace? These past days of reading and mediating have made me so thankful for the many “pictures” in the Gospels of Jesus having table fellowship, meal-sharing, with all sorts of turkeys, rabble, nobodies and marginalized people on the fringe of society … because there, like no where else, is the “scandalous”, pure, redemptive love of God exposed more clearly, more dramatically.
What we fail to understand is that table fellowship, the sharing of a meal with someone in the time and culture in which Jesus lived, was a guarantee of peace, fraternity, true fellowship, forgiveness, and friendship. In other words, a shared meal, a shared “table” symbolized a shared life. How awesome is that … especially when the inviter is JESUS. That’s what Zacchaeus heard when Jesus called to him from the Sycamore tree: “I want to experience with you the greatest and most beautiful experience that life can afford: friendship!” Amazing love … amazing grace!
Writes one author, “Through table fellowship Jesus ritually acted out His insight into Abba’s indiscriminate love - a love that causes His sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and His rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike (see Matthew 5:45).” And still another author comments, “For Jesus this fellowship at table with those whom the devout had written off was not merely the expression of liberal tolerance and humanitarian sentiment. It was the expression of His mission and message: peace and reconciliation for all, without exception, even for the moral failures.” Thank God!
I am sure that to eat a meal with Jesus, to experience table fellowship with Him, was an incredible, liberating experience of real joy … real joy because all pretences and facades behind which Jesus’ table guests normally hid (behind which I normally hide) were already dismissed. To be with Jesus was to be freed from self-hatred, to be encouraged not to confuse their perception of themselves or the names or designations that others gave them (“sinner”, “tax gatherer”, “adulterer”, etc.) … for the dearly, deeply loved mystery they really were (that I really am) .
This background understanding has helped me rejoice in and relax in God’s amazing grace and incredible love. It’s helped me cherish, truly cherish meals with friends … well with anybody. And meal prayers where Jesus is not only thanked but invited to attend or His presence is recognized ... become a wake up call to mission and ministry of Jesus directed to me … and now through me. And although different in many respects … Jesus invitation to come to the Sacrament of the Altar, to receive from Him what He intends to give … is that not truly amazing, awesome, incredible, …
