See tables, they're a social nightmare. You can never really get it right. And what's worse is that tables are always places of Realm-making, and particularly God's Realm. It is when we eat together, God gets us involved in some of heaven's greatest moments. From bread and wine to tax-collectors, Pharisee's homes to wedding banquets: it's a onslaught of grace.
And here again we have the comic relief of a parable that laughs at us. You can imagine everyone charging for the head of the table to sit beside the host and after Jesus words, you can imagine them all charging for the lower seats in a moment of false humility in order to be lifted up from there. Of course it is comical. Heaven does that. A lot.
Perhaps there is no best seat. Perhaps the closer you are to the host the further you are to the people God would like us to care for most. Tables are about opening your eyes to those who eat with you and sharing what you have. Table are about offering people something from your plate, be that food or a story or a word of support or a moment of listening. That's the only place you find heaven: in the relationship and not in the order of placing people. Bishops can eat with monarchs all they like, but the best food and stories are being shared further down the table where people have taken off their jackets, eating with their fingers and meeting others just as they are.
Recent Comments