Friday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel, Jesus is having dinner with (gasp) sinners! My goodness…if that were a cultural expectation, he would always eat alone. Having a place to sit at a dinner table (or any meal really) and share a meal with others has been incredibly significant in my life and my faith formation. Presence around a shared table for meals was important in my childhood home. It has, likewise, taken on great importance in our current household as we raise five children. The core of our Catholic faith centers around the Eucharist. We re-enact the last supper of Christ every time we attend mass. In college, I lived in an intentional faith community house with five other guys where we deliberately ate together as often as possible and invited others over for supper regularly. It is in these moments that I have experienced profound discussions, immense joy, and forged powerful relationships.
The life and ministry of Jesus was entirely eucharistic–it was centered around the sacred meal. And not just eating for the sake of doing so, but sharing a meal with those who are most in need of healing; those most vulnerable; those on the margins; those without a seat at the table. This coming week, LeeAnn and I will be helping to facilitate a “hunger banquet” for the teens in our parish family who are participating in the Matthew 9:37 mission week. The banquet is designed to create awareness of the imbalance of food access on a global scale and will involve an interactive meal that will bring statistics and stories about poverty and hunger to life for our youth. We will spend time reflecting on power differences in those who have and those who have not; those who literally have a seat at the table, and those who do not.
As we reflect today on Jesus’ association with “tax collectors and sinners”, why not ask the question: who am I in this story? Often, I have the tendency to imagine myself as Jesus, the physician healing the sick by my outreach. But the more plausible reality is that I am a much more comparable representative of the tax collector and sinners. Am I not more like the sick in need of a physician? As an Apostle, Matthew eventually went forth evangelizing others, sharing the gospel of Jesus. But first, he responded to Jesus’ call to “follow me”. Matthew went from sinner to saint. Before he could be a saint, he was invited to have a seat at the table, to share in the sacred meal, the life of Christ. Therefore, before I set out to be Christ for someone else, have I let Jesus be Christ for me? Have I taken a seat at the table of sinners, allowing Jesus the physician to heal me first?
Our kids participated in Vacation Bible Camp last week centered around the theme “Come to the Table.” My favorite part of the week was watching their joy in learning about the Eucharist, having a seat at the table, and inviting others to join. Their favorite song of the week was Big House – “Come and go with me to my Father’s House”. In the song, there is a big table with lots of food and a house with a family where everyone has a place. We are sinners, born to be saints. Like Matthew, may we accept the invitation of our good and loving God to follow him, to be healed, and then go forth to bring others to the table.
Peace,
Brandon Meyer