Sharing the table

I've been reading "The Ragamuffin Gospel" (although admittedly not very regularly), and as I've expected along the way, it's pouring Truth into my life. It's hard Truth, but refreshing Truth. Anyway, tonight when I was reading I found something that really resonated with me. Brennan Manning began to explain how meaningful it was that Jesus sat down to dinner with people--with sinners--with the lowly. Not only did he sit down to dinner with the lowliest of the low, but he invited them to dinner. This wasn't just a simple act of kindness, this was a special invitation. He explains that in first-century Palestinian Judaism it was illegal to associate with people in different social classes meaning that dinner was definitely out of the question. Christ shook the very foundation -- the law -- that society at that time was built on.

Manning goes on to share this:

In the Near East, to share a meal with someone is a guarantee of peace, trust, fraternity, and forgiveness--the shared table symbolizes a shared life. An Orthodox Jew's saying "I would like to have dinner with you" is a metaphor that imples, "I would like to enter into friendship with you." Even today an American Jew will share a doughnut and a cup of coffee with you, but to extend a dinner invitation is to say, "Come to my mikdash me-at, the miniature sanctuary of my dining room table, where we will celebrate the most sacred and beautiful experience that life affords--friendship." That is what Zacchaeus heard when Jesus called him down from the sycamore tree, and that is why Jesus' practice of table fellowship caused hostile comment from the outset of His ministry.

For some reason, I just really love this picture. Like that's what it really means to feast at the table of Christ. To share in communion with fellow believers. To break bread together in community. To share life together.

One of my absolute favorite things in the entire world is conversation with a friend while enjoying a good meal. And now I think I understand a little bit why that's always been such a comfort to my soul and something I look forward to. I think it's because that's what Christ intended community to be. To invite people into every aspect of our lives.

But as I type this I'm convicted of who I bring to my table. Yes, I bring my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to my table. And I believe that's good. We need community. We need those special bonds and relationships. But the thing is, Christ didn't just invite the disciples and his family to share the table with him. He invited the lowliest of the low to his table. Am I putting up a wall around my table? How can I let others in...not just to have dinner with me, but to have a relationship with me? How do I have community with the marginalized? And not just charity/pity relationship, but real and honest community? How do I love the way Christ loved?