Who's at the Table?

Ever since I listened to the song "Come to the Table" yesterday, I've been asking myself the question, "Who is at the table?"  The song is a Sidewalk Prophets song that offers an invitation:

He said come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free.
Come to the table.

As I asked myself that question -- who is at Jesus' table -- I wanted to look around that table I created in my head and see my friends.  I wanted to see people that I love who agree with me, who are kind to me.   I honestly secretly wished that His table did not include certain kinds of people or even some individuals.   But then I realized that that is a broad category:  "The sinners who have been redeemed."   It just might be that the table I'm being invited to is different than the one I might prefer it to be.

So I asked myself some questions that I encourage you to ask yourself.   What if, when you come to the table of Jesus, these are the people you find there:

• People who are from a country whose politics you don't agree with;
• People of a different race;
• Those of a different theological persuasion;
• Those with a different sexual orientation.

Maybe those broad categories are easier than these:

• Someone you feel has betrayed you;
• Someone who has hurt you;
• Someone you are in conflict with right now.

Still want to join Jesus at His table?

The reason that I know that some of those above will very well be there is because of the times in Scripture when Jesus talks about his table.   The parable of the great feast in Matthew 22 tells us that those who were invited did not come so those least likely to be included were the ones that ended up at the table.   In Matthew 6 we learn that Jesus was having dinner with the "tax collectors and the sinners."  There are countless examples of Jesus hanging out with those that everyone else decided weren't good enough, were "too far gone" or were from a culture or a lifestyle that everyone else avoided.

The most powerful example, however, of what Jesus did was very personal.  His Last Supper he sat and ate with the man who would betray Him and the one who would deny Him.    He KNEW this before he invited them to dinner.   He sat with them and remained loving.  And, to top it all off, He washed their feet.   The fact that Jesus washed Judas' feet is one of the post powerful statements of who Jesus is that we can find anywhere.

The table of Christ is a place where we come, not just because He is there, but because He wants us to sit on even ground with all of those He has redeemed.   He wants us to live in community with them in whatever ways we can.   He wants us to love them as He loved them .... even if it means loving those who betray us, deny us, even hate us.   Because Jesus Himself did that very thing the night before His death ... and He continues to do that every day.

So let me share with you this song and as you think about it, picture who you need to forgive or show compassion to in order to enjoy a meal with Jesus in His company.... because it looks like that's who just might be there.

We all start on the outside
The outside looking in
This is where grace begins
We were hungry, we were thirsty
With nothing left to give
Oh the shape that we were in
Just when all hope seemed lost
Love opened the door for us

He said come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table

Come meet this motley crew of misfits
These liars and these thiefs
There's no one unwelcome here
So that sin and shame that you brought with you
You can leave it at the door
Let mercy draw you near

Come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Come to the table

To the thief and to the doubter
To the hero and the coward
To the prisoner and the soldier
To the young and to the older
All who hunger, all who thirst
All the last and all the first
All the paupers and the princes
All who fail you've been forgiven
All who dream and all who suffer
All who loved and lost another
All the chained and all the free
All who follow, all who lead
Anyone who's been let down
All the lost you have been found
All who have been labeled right or wrong
To everyone who hears this song

Ooh
Come to the table
Come join the sinners you have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Oooh
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Come to the table
Just sit down and rest a while
Just sit down and rest a while
Come to the table