Invitation

As a child, one of the ways that I was often encouraged to help with family meals was in setting the table. Both sets of my grandparents lived near one another, so we often did two Christmas meals, two thanksgivings, and two Easter dinners. For my one grandmother, I would set the table with her special occasion china dishes, silverware, fine linens, and crystal glasses. I enjoyed placing the silverware in just the right way with all the extra pieces we didn’t normally use at a regular meal. Then we would go to my other grandparent’s home and I would set the table there as well. The dishes and cutlery were the same as every other day, but the there was just as much love put into the preparation of the meal, and the table overflowed with so much food and good conversation.

A theme that God has drawing my attention to recently, has been one of invitation and response. Everything that we receive from God is by his invitation. There is no space within our lives that is out of bounds for God, and yet, he invites us to welcome him in.  Everything in our lives, including our faith, is received by his initiation and invitation. 

In scripture, one of the key metaphors of invitation and response is pictured as a table, specifically that of a banquet table. Referred to as the Messianic banquet, the Israelites wrote about the table as a place for the eventual realization of victory over enemies, eternal joyous celebration, abundance of food, the presence of the Messiah, judgment, and the pilgrimage of the nations. 

Isaiah 25:6–8 provides a picture of the Messianic banquet:

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
 the best of meats and the finest of wines. 
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations; 
 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

Notice that the meal and table have already been prepared, anticipating celebration, anticipating restoration, anticipating victory even before it has come to pass. And as much as it is a table for celebration, it is also a table at which the Sovereign Lord first acknowledges the pain, brokenness, and sorrow of those who join the feast.

In the Easter story, we see the requirement of sacrifice that it takes for Jesus to prepare this messianic banquet. The journey of Lent is an invitation to join Jesus on the way to Jerusalem; to the cross. It is at the cross where Jesus, through his death, destroys the shroud of death, the sheet of sin that covers and separates all of humanity from the Creator God who loves us. At the cross, Jesus swallows up death forever, carrying it to the tomb with him in death, and triumphing over it through his resurrection. The invitation to new life, to forgiveness, to redemption is offered through the death and resurrection of Jesus. His invitation is to come and feast. Not to forget your sorrows, wounds, brokenness, or disgrace, but to bring them to the table, like a bad potluck offering, to exchange them. At the banqueting table, we offer our tears and disgrace in exchange for his life, his body broken for us, his blood freely shed for us. 

We come to the table by his invitation.
We receive through our response.

Something to reflect on as we move towards holy week:
What is the shroud that you are wrapped up in that keeps you from joining Jesus at the banquet table? Is unforgiveness, a circumstance of your past or present? Yourself?
Whatever your bad potluck offering is, bring it to the table and receive his invitation for an exchange. Give him your tears and disgrace, and receive his love and grace.

In the place of difficulty and lack, there is an invitation to peace and abundance.
In the place of brokenness, there is an invitation to healing and provision. 
In the place of tears, there is also an invitation to celebrate. 
In the place of feeling alone and desperate, there is an invitation to community and to experience his presence, his anointing, his sustaining and undeserved overflow.

At the table his invitation is experienced in a holy exchange.
At the table we receive his goodness and mercy.