Table Manners

In the scripture passage Luke 14:1-14, Jesus tells his disciples to choose their place at the table carefully.  If they were to sit too high in the "pecking order" they might be asked to move down so that someone else could have their places.  Wouldn't that be humiliating?

The devotional I read about that passage (written by B. John Franklin) said:

So Jesus unapologetically comes to our table, stands in our cultures' customs, and challenges our table manners.  He is the host.  He himself is the living water, the very bread of life.  In him the Love that will not let us go meets us where we are. 

What does it mean that Jesus is the host?  Lots of things went through my mind.  Jesus stands at our tables, in the middle of our worlds, and challenges the way we live.

• Are there hungry people who are excluded from our tables?  Jesus tells us that this is not the way it should be.
• Do we claim to be the host, decreeing who can have access to the table? Jesus says that he is the host, and no one is to be kept away.
• Do we place ourselves "above" other people, allowing others to serve, while we only take the place of the one being served?  Jesus tells us that this is not discipleship.
• Do we distance ourselves from God?  Jesus follows wherever we go, and will not let us go.
• Do we attempt to survive on the water and bread that we provide, or that the culture supplies?  Jesus tell us that he is the living water and the bread of life, and that nothing will substitute.
• Do we try to buy a ticket to our place at the table, either by good works or in exchange for what we own?  Jesus says that the table is free.  He invites us to take our place, as a gift.
• Do we stand apart, feeling unworthy to step up to the table?  Jesus tells us that he is the host, and he makes us worthy.

The table belongs to Jesus, and he is the host.