Birth a Table

He’s back at it! Out on the Sabbath healing people. It could be the Life of Brian again! This time he wants to birth a table!

Have you ever had an invite to a dinner, you might have dressed up for the occasion. You arrive, and maybe you are offered a drink and you stand around. At this point the shoes may be starting to hurt and you’d love just to sit down, but everyone else is standing so…

There’s that occasion when my braces on my trousers made a leap for freedom. I am quite thin but – in those days- the trousers needed some help keeping up and belts were just ‘not the thing’. It is quite difficult to remain calm and at peace when you are having to carefully re-attach the back braces to the button which you can’t see.

I am sure you might have tales to tell as well.

Then the dinner gong goes and people stare at the door to the dining room and no one moves initially…but then the pace increases. You furtively stare at the board as you enter, searching for your name and who might be with you. “Aaah” you’re sitting at table 3 and “oh no, oh well” with them. As you arrive everyone checks the card with their name on it, in case the spelling is wrong – it’s like they’ve just learnt to read and we desperately need to check that this is the right place for us.

We take our seats and notice that Mrs Miggins is on the top table – how did she get there?

The food arrives

Rather than focussing upon the fine food which is on offer, we also engage on smalltalk. It’s an art form. To speak with possibly strangers and find a way to engage, discover more about them, and make bonds with someone we haven’t possibly met before. There is a strange intimacy as we lean left or right to share those conversations. Here at the Table, it is oddly intimate.

In Luke 14:7-14, we read of people seeking to be nearer to the Head of the Table.

We never find out where Jesus actually sits.

It’s like Jesus is describing a familiar situation. Perhaps it’s not about the actual eating but ourselves, Jesus is looking to transform us. We have read a lot about transformation over recent weeks. In Like 12:33 there is that emotive line “Sell your possessions” which many put great emphasis upon. However, the real focus is upon where we keep our treasure.

Ignore the materialism, focus upon the transformation within us.

Jesus gives advice on where to sit at this table. There’s a humility of seeking the best for others, promoting others to a better seat than ourselves. – without being a doormat.

When we make that offer to other to move further up the table, it is not about “hey, look at me”, but we are doing this quietly. The host will see what we have done, as we aren’t in the expected seat.

But if this isn’t a real meal, what is Jesus speaking of?

This is the Kin_dom of God. Jesus didn’t birth a church, but birthed a table.

This birthing requires a transformation in ourselves – well certainly in me. It isn’t about our man-made status. We love status. We have badges, ranks, designations, titles but Jesus is emphasising that his followers were to be counter-cultural. It is about being more aware of others. It goes well beyond heternormity, that expectation of the gender as we understood it from our childhood. It goes well beyond patriarchy, that men comes first.

In the Roman days, and still evident today, if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours was a popular way of ‘moving up the greasy pole’. I’m not sure that I like the idea of everyone possibly scratching my back but you get the idea. Jesus is suggesting that ‘we get nothing in return’. How do we feel about that?

Kin_dom behaviour is counter-cultural.

Thoughts

Jesus wasn’t dining with Gentiles; these were Jews. Reciprocation was important then.

Perhaps Pay it Forward might be more appropriate today?

So imagine where Jesus might be, where you find it really unpleasant. Where would you sit?

Can we affect a change in our local society, to focus our desire for equality on others, and not us?