He Came Eating and Drinking (Luke 7:34)

(Homily for Gayton Road Christian Church's Worship on October 1, 2017, Proper 21)

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More Than a Man Eating and Drinking,

More Than a Table

If you were playing hide-and-seek with Jesus, and you were it, where would begin looking?  We might be tempted to begin by looking for Jesus in the Temple, as his parents did when he was a child.  Or perhaps we might look for him in the workshop, for it’s said that his family were carpenters.  But if the gospels are any indication, we would have better luck searching somewhere else.  We would do better to begin with the local diner. 

It’s a striking fact: in the gospels, we find Jesus at the table much more often than at the Temple.

So often is he found at the table, in fact, that he becomes known as “a drunkard and a glutton” (Luke 7:34).  It’s understandable, perhaps, how Jesus receives this reputation, but it’s rather unfortunate too.  Jesus is always at the table, yes—but he’s doing much more than eating and drinking.  If all that we see is a drunkard and a glutton, then we’ve really missed out.

Perhaps Jesus explains it best himself.  In the gospels, there are two ways that Jesus describes his own life.  On one occasion, he owns up to the obvious: “The Son of Man,” he says, “came eating and drinking” (Luke 7:34).  I imagine Jesus saying this in the same way that we might confess to an undeniable charge.  “Alright, you’ve got me.  I’m always at the table, eating and drinking.  There, I’ve said it!”

But on another occasion, Jesus gives us a glimpse into what’s really going on in all the eating and drinking.  There is more at the table than meets the eye.  At the spiritual heart of all that Jesus does is this: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God,” he says.  “For this purpose I was sent” (Luke 4:43).

In other words, the Jesus who comes “eating and drinking” is the same Jesus who is always “proclaim[ing] the good news of the kingdom of God.”  The table is not just a mess of food and drink.  The table is how Jesus shows us the kingdom of God.  For Jesus, the table becomes a picture of the kingdom.  A doorway into the kingdom.  A celebration consummating the kingdom.

What the Kingdom Looks Like

What does the kingdom of God look like?  While the world dreams of pearly gates and streets of gold, power and prestige beyond measure, Jesus simply sets a table.  “Here,” he seems to say, “Let me show you what the kingdom really looks like.”

At the table, Jesus brings down the powerful and lifts up the lowly, giving pride of place to the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame (Luke 14:12-14).  At the table, Jesus welcomes the unwelcome: he eats with tax collectors and sinners (Luke 7:34).  At the table, Jesus makes friends (Luke 7:34).  At the table, Jesus makes life more abundant, turning water into wine (John 2:1-10).  At the table, Jesus tells stories, stories that shatter our assumptions and presumption and open up new life (cf. Luke 7:36-50, 14:15-24).  At the table, Jesus meets needs, giving bread to the hungry (Luke 9:10-17).  At the table, Jesus heals the sick  (Luke 14:1-6).  At the table, Jesus sees ours tears and shows us forgiveness (Luke 7:36-50).  At the table, Jesus serves us and cares for us—even washes our feet (John 13:1-17).  At the table, Jesus shares bread and cup as reminders of his undying love, as a promise that he will always be with us (Luke 22:14-20). 

The table is so much a part of who Jesus is, that even when he’s not there, he cannot help talking about it.  It spills into his thoughts and his dreams, his parables and his conversations.  When he speaks, it’s about weddings and feasts (Luke 5:34-35; 14:7-11), banquets and celebrations (Luke 15:11-32), wineskins and vineyards (Luke 5:36-38; 13:6-8; 20:9-19; Matt 20:1-16; 21:28-32, 33-45), seeds and gardens (Matt 13:24-30; Luke 8:4-8; 13:6-9, 18-19), yeast and bread and water and fruit (Luke 13:20-21; John 4:7-15; 6:22-59; 7:37-39). 

Jesus is never far from the table.  And the table, I must believe, is never far from the kingdom of God.

Stories of the Table,

Stories of the Kingdom

Over the last year, as our Visioning Team met together and shared stories and experiences, the table came up again and again.  In retrospect, that’s no surprise.  I have a hunch, a suspicion, that the tables here at Gayton Road are much more than simply tables, just as Jesus was much more than a man eating and drinking.  I have an inkling that the table is, in fact, where we have caught a glimpse of the kingdom of God, perhaps even stepped foot inside the kingdom of God.

As we hear some of these stories now, I invite you to reflect on your own experience of the table.  Not just the communion table here in the sanctuary, but the tables in the fellowship hall, and the tables at your home, and the tables across the world at which you have sat with friends and strangers.  Have these tables ever been more than just tables, more than just a mess of food and drink?  Have you ever caught a glimpse of the kingdom at one of them?  When?  Where?  How? 

What did it look like?

Prayer

Christ who came eating and drinking,

Whose kingdom draws wondrously near

In tables

Where gifts of food and drink are prepared and shared,

Where we are filled with gratitude,

Where strangers are welcomed,

Where nobodies become somebody,

Where friendships are made,

Where healing and forgiveness and care give us new life,

Where your love is blessed, broken, and shared:

Be our holy guest today, at this table,

And in the days to come, at tables near and far.

Your kingdom come, your will be done.  Amen.