By Caro May 13, 2022
At a business dinner, the most efficient or highest-ranking employees sit at the executive table. But at the table of God, it is our spiritual filiation that gives us a place of honor.
It has always been so. During great majestic feasts, it was the strongest or the richest who sat at the king’s table. The sick or the poor were not even invited to the feasts. This state of honor sought to reward the most valiant, but also to give brilliance to the sovereign who demonstrated that his entourage was imposing. That is why the story of Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9) is so moving. He was the grandson of the king’s enemy in a way, and he was handicapped. He should never have been in the spotlight, and never should have been invited to eat at King David’s table. But because he was the son of his friend Jonathan, David gave him this honor.
The same goes for us. We are invited to the table of the King of kings despite our past. Even if we are physically handicapped or emotionally broken, even if we have experienced failures or have no wealth to present. We are invited into the intimacy of the King because of our (spiritual) family ties. “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15 NIV). Jesus also used the same image to invite to His table all those who didn’t feel honorable. “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests” (Matthew 22:8-10 NIV).
Being made up of imperfect humans, the church sometimes tends to favor members with a title. And those who get a big responsibility are often married couples, or married men. Unmarried members who have a painful past (such as those who have gone through a divorce) sometimes feel like they are being judged by other church members when they begin a new romantic relationship. They are certainly not being cast in the spotlight as a young couple of lovebirds. Often this causes these older couples to isolate themselves from the church while they are dating. And out of sight, the temptations are greater. But we must remember that God does not have the same look. He invites dating couples to His table every day. Regardless of our past, God has the same dream of happiness for all His children.
But beware: if our past does not prevent us from sitting at the head table, then we must keep our place by showing respect and thankfulness. If Mephibosheth had started to do dishonorable acts against David, he certainly would not have stayed there. As was the case for one of the guests quoted in the parable of the wedding. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:11-13 NIV). Now that we are invited to the head table, let us be grateful enough to change our worldly ways and put on the finest clothes: Christ Himself (Romans 13:14).