Who Sits at Your Table?
New recruits, among those who were
attracted to Jesus and his story, were immediately
challenged to leave their familiar circle of acquaintances
and friends and go into unfamiliar urban and rural centres
carrying no money, no travelling bag and wear no footwear.
(Matthew 10: 10) It was sheer madness! They were terrified!
So each went in desperate need of hospitality from those
they met on the road. If they were to be accepted into the
homes and lives of strangers they would need to be very
awake to the religious and cultural expectations of these
folk otherwise they would be sleeping ‘rough’
each evening and going to sleep, if they could sleep,
hungry. They were to assume the mantle of the mendicant,
who, in Jewish society of the time, was at the bottom of
the social ladder. They were to mix with those who had to
live by their wits, and consequently, usually had criminal
records because they were not always smart enough to stay
ahead of the long arm of the law. They would to be branded
as undesirable beggars, the unemployable of those times,
who survived on the handouts of the wealthier classes.
What was being asked of
these recruits? They were to put their lives on the line
and make new friends with those who they had never bothered
to speak with as to do so would have branded them as
ritually unclean and liable for exclusion from their
families and friends. It was just crazy as it was
confronting everything common sense told them was okay.
This was a very tough thing
to ask of his newly found friends who came to enjoy what
they perceived as ‘good news.’ Jesus was
inviting his small ‘team’ of followers to share
a different way of living and relating from what was
acceptable among ‘good and respectable’ people
and to sit at tables with those who were considered
socially despicable. The fellowship shared among equals,
eating the same bread, and drinking the same wine and
water, was just not culturally acceptable. One only ate
with those who belonged to the same social grouping.
Perhaps this cultural division continues into our dining
habits today, even though we are supposed to live in a more
enlightened, democratic and socially tolerant period of
history.
When was the last time you
shared a meal with someone who was unemployed, struggling
to find status as a refugee or recovering from a drug
addiction?
Perhaps the challenge is to
find ‘new ways of dining’ so that we meet the
excluded ones Jesus insisted his followers get to know,
befriend and share food with.
{Rohr, R. (1997) Jesus new Plan for a New World: the Sermon
on the Mount, St Pauls, Mumbai.}
Participants in the God in
the Now renewal experience are invited to share the
Chaburah Meal which Jesus frequently sat down to with his
friends and acquaintances. As the meal unfolds, those at
table are challenged to share their deepest life issues and
to look for ways of including those marginalised by society
more directly in their lives. The Chaburah ultimately calls
those who partake to sit and eat with those who are
suffering and excluded. In the sharing of wine each guest
recommits himself or herself to service and justice.
Christians have no choice but to travel light, stay
together and accept hospitality from wherever it comes.
The Congregation Renewal Team
is presently facilitating God in the Now experiences in
Goroka (Papua New Guinea), Dublin, Melbourne and Kasama
(Africa).
(Program information: www.edmundrice.org/crt)