Who’s At Your Table?

by Nick Cooper

A few months back I found myself sitting in a local fast-service Chicken restaurant eating a biscuit, sipping on a cup of coffee, and watching the people around me.

This wasn’t a normal rhythm for me, sitting inside taking up a table—but for that day, I did it anyway. The job that I had for the last 10 months had ended, and I think that I was looking for belonging, purpose, and community. That day I knew I didn’t want to be home alone. 

So often that is where I find myself, sitting at tables alone. When it comes to eating meals, the truth is it’s easier for me to fix a quick bite at home, or to grab something out and bring it home to eat. If we are honest I think many of us feel that we are just wired that way. Like there is some intrinsic need for us to hide or refrain from inviting people to share a meal with us. We don’t want to embarrass ourselves on the off-chance they say “no”. Or maybe worse, they say “yes” and then we are left feeling like we have to play host or entertain. 

In a moment of doubt, gospel misbelief, and fear, empty chairs become missed opportunities. 

Full Tables

This particular day there was a group of elderly white-haired gentlemen sitting at a cluster of pulled-together tables. Their conversation ranged from the weather, car sale scams and incentives, and a variety of other topics. It seemed to my mostly awkward and nosey onlooking self, that all of these men had most things in common.

Golf shirts, shorts, well-kept appearances, it was a country club-like gathering. While I could appreciate the laughter and fellowship (as this is what I was missing), I didn’t see any diversity in age, race, or stages of life. It got me thinking again about that question: “Who do I want sitting at my table?” Or better yet, “Who is currently sitting at my table?”

Life is filled with numerous opportunities to talk with and interact with people. Unless you never leave your house, you are bound to interact with someone at some point almost daily. What if in these moments we began to see the people looking back at us? What if we got to know their story? Maybe share a meal or a cup of coffee.

Jesus, for all the miracles and ministry that He did, often shared meals with all kinds of people. The gospels are filled with accounts of Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors (Lk 15:1-2), the blind and crippled, the lame and poor (Lk. 14:13). Jew or Gentile mattered not to Jesus. If there was space at the table, He either found a place to join, or He opened the space for others to join Him.

Gospel Tables

The table is important. And more important than the table itself are those we choose to invite to join us there. I’ll admit that I have failed to fully grasp the missionary aspect of sharing a meal. When we eat, we show that we are dependent on something outside of ourselves for the sustenance and energy we need to survive. God created food to be eaten and enjoyed, but it also shows us that we are limited creatures, not an Almighty God. Our need for food reminds us that "every good and perfect gift comes from above” (James 1:17).

The prophet Isaiah spoke in Isaiah 25 of a mountain that the Lord would one day prepare for His people. On that mountain there would be a feast, and along with that feast He would swallow up sin, death, and the grave. No longer would man be separated from their Creator and Father. Isaiah says that on that day it will be said, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.”

With this in mind, we might should now ask…who do you want at that table with you? Who around you should be at this feast? 

Jeff Vanderstelt says, “The Church is the people of God saved by the power of God and filled with the presence of God for the purposes of God in this world.” So if you and I are the church, we should be fulfilling His purpose in this world to see the poor, the blind, the sinner, widow, and orphan, find their place at this feast. 

Revelation 19:6-9 describes this banquet table as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In his account of the end times, John says:

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peaks of thunder crying out,

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride [the church] has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—

For the fine line is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the Angel said to me, “write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.”

Let us today choose to be a blessing to unbelievers and believers alike. My prayer is that we would see fewer empty chairs at our tables, and that instead we pray for the Lord to fill them with people in need of the gospel.