Because Jesus Eats With Everyone

 This week, we are talking about gathering the stranger with us at our tables. I cannot wait for you to hear from my friend and our guest blogger, Becca Voight, whose family is such an example of devoting their life to this very thing.

In the meantime, let’s begin to pray and think about who we can be gathering at our tables during this holiday season. Who are the forgotten, the lonely, those who cannot repay us the favor?

Jesus said in Luke 14:13-14: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Jesus ate with the outcasts of society, and there wasn’t a social norm that he didn’t break in who he ate with, from tax collectors, women, and the sick, enough to make the religious elite and wealthy alike more than cringe, but have to speak out against it.

Jesus made those who belonged well in this world mad, but he calls those of us who don’t belong in this world because of Him, a son and a daughter, and gives us a seat at His table. Our tables should be like Christ’s, they are sacred spaces to break bread, to feast on the Word, to share about how Christ’s death and resurrection changes our outlook on every day, and because Jesus ate with everyone, so should we.

Oh Lord, show us who we should be inviting to our tables this month, knowing the holidays can be especially lonely and depressing for many. Enlarge our hearts to capture yours for the fellow image bearers around us. Help us to love across social boundaries, across political lines, and across all the labels this world assigns. Out of the love you have so greatly lavished on us, empower us to love more, to love anyway, and to love even our enemies. If you welcomed us as strangers from you, God, help us to do the same for others.

✨Image credit and beautiful canvas art (that I want so badly!) from @houseofbelonging✨