Crowded Table
As is so often the case, I think this story actually starts well before we get to chapter 15. Way back in 14:15, Jesus is telling a story about a guy who hosts a great dinner. He tries to invite his friends and all the people he knew, but none of them could or would come (for one reason or another). So the guy hosting is so set on this great dinner that he tells his slave to go out into the streets and start inviting everyone they see, specifically naming those who would have been socially outcast––”the blind, the poor, the crippled, and the lame.” And when there was still room, he commanded his slave to invite everyone from the roads and lanes so that his house would be filled, as if party was the whole point.
Then in 14:25 Jesus tells another story about how costly it will be for those who want to follow him––they will have to leave mother, father, and community. And then Finally in the final lines of chapter 14 he says, “let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
At this point, he has obviously piqued the interest of these tax collectors and sinners. In case anyone has forgotten, tax collectors were despised because they were most commonly Jews who collaborated with the Roman authorities and who were known for their dishonesty and sinners which, the Jewish Study Bible defines, in this specific case, as “those who fracture community welfare.” But what’s important here is that it was especially offensive in Israel to dine with these two categories of people because of Jewish food laws, which separated the properly observant from those who were not.
So these tax collectors and folks who have fractured community welfare are listening in and they hear a story of a guy who is so interested in the party that he invites everyone regardless of who they are and who he is. In other words, they see themselves in those Jesus has just named––the ones who got to attend the great dinner and in those who have likely already lost mother, father, and community because of what they do or have done. I think Pink said it best: "I've already seen the bottom, so there’s nothing to fear.” They might as well come closer.
But this makes those in power upset. It's been their job to maintain and follow the rules for so long and so Jesus’ welcome of these sinners and outcasts around a table setting is threatening their power and their position—the very systems that give them their power. And so we’re told that they grumble, which is the cause for the three proceeding parables that Jesus tells them about lost things being found: the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and one the lectionary didn’t give us today, but the last in this trilogy of parables is the lost son––the prodigal son. But more than about lost things and their being found, these parables are about the celebration that follows after these things are found. And it’s that celebration or that joy that is the most threatening to those who hold power. When there aren’t any rules, how can you win? Or when the only rule is to fill the table, won’t everyone get an invitation?
One question that came up for me in reading these stories this week was, why three? Why wouldn't one story about the celebration following a lost thing being found be sufficient? The only answer I came to was because this is a lesson to the religious authorities about who God is, who belongs at God’s table, and what God will do to fill that table with guests. And thats a highly nuanced thing to describe.
God the gentle, reckless shepherd; God the woman who would not give up; and God the receptive, loving parent. God’s mission in each is to search for, to find, and receive those who have been lost and left behind, for those who don’t know where they are, and for those who turn to God in order to be found. It seems from these stories that God wants a full table of anyone who wants to be there, and we’re not the ones who get to arbitrate who gets invited. In fact, if we put ourselves in the position of those religious authorities, this is a lesson to us––
Everyone belongs to God, but we’re the ones who break that connection for each other––we make those rules and cast out folks from community. But God wants all those lost to return to the table and we’re to celebrate that return.
And so this is a super hard passage to read this week.
The thing I really sat with this week is that the party is thrown, in these stories, at simply being found––not conforming to what is expected, or for someone to have all their wrongs arbitrated first––but instead for the table to literally expand to make room for whoever wants to be there. Why I find this passage so hard to read right now is that I’m not sure I’m ready for everyone to be found, and celebrated. If I’m honest, I like the rules around who is in and out––there are some folks I don’t want at this table and who I don’t think deserve to be at this table. But what’s clear to me here is that when I do that I’m exactly who Jesus is warning against.
Because, and here is where I find hope, this isn’t a story about who is in and who is out. It’s a story about how God wants everyone there and how God will abandon it all to find and receive the ones who want to be there, and then without question celebrates their return.
