For most of us, we turn our eating together as a family into a Christian experience by having a prayer before the meal, trying to keep our conversations encouraging and God-centered, and, in my family's case, by trying to eat healthy in order to treat our bodies like the temple they are. Sadly, that is where Jesus is stopped. "No more" we proclaim. He can enter our familiy's life when it means building up my family. If you will notice, the list is sort of all selfish things And the most sad thing is that we still haven't really done the major thing that Jesus would want us to do. We have, like we do all too often, majored in the minors and forgot about the major.
This is ironic because is a sort of twisted way, I see that I have become a Pharisee. When was the last time I had an "unseemly" person over to my house to eat dinner? It's been too long. I've become too civilized, or should I say Pharisized.
Scot McKnight, in the Jesus Creed, writes:
"Tables can create societies; they can also divide societies. Jesus used the table to create an incluisve society, but some of his contemporaries understood his table to create a dangerous society. Jesus used the table to declare the Jesus Creed, while some of his critics wanted the table to speak tradition. He wanted to include people, while his opponents wanted to uphold purity customs."
He also writes:
"Jesus uses a physical object, a table, to embody his vision for a kingdom society, those who are living out the Jesus Creed. The table of Jesus talks by envisioning a new society, a society of grace, of inclusion, of restoration, and of transformation. We need to ask what, at the physical level, our churches are saying."
What does your dining room table say? If it was the embodiment of Christ and could utter a message to you, what would it utter? Mine would say it is time to repent. It is time to use me, not just for the upbuilding of my family, but also for the upbuilding of His family. It is time to start to start being hospitable to those who haven't ever received hospitality. It is time to start showing Christ's love by changing the list of those I invite over to eat and play games with.
Watch out for the potholes.
