Jesus Etiquette and Table Talk

Scripture: Luke 14:12-14, Acts 2:42-47

This program is in observance of July being National Disability Awareness Month.

Tables are an essence fixture. Often fixtures can help create space for powerful life events – both good and bad. Peace treaties and wars have been initiated around tables. Wedding papers and divorce papers have been signed at tables. Conversations of encouragement, as well as conversations of slander have taken place around tables. Table time is important to my family. Tables are a safe and sacred space where we play games, pray, talk, listen, build puzzles, write encouraging cards, and share meals together. A lot of good memories have taken place around our dining room table. I think it’s fair to say, the table can be a place of connection, disconnection, brokenness, healing, encouragement, slander, blessing and cursing.

Jesus didn’t have a particular people group he ate with. He dined with the rich and the poor, the abled and disabled, women and men, young and old, every race, sinner and saint. The Pharisees were certainly a bold and presumptuous group of individuals, which many might have wanted to ignore. But Jesus shared meals with them on occasion, too.  As members of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, they were of the mindset that they held superior sanctity over others.  Jesus often turned the tables on their backwards theology.  Where they tried setting traps at the table by exploiting people, Jesus reminded them that “those who exalt themselves will be humbled and, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).  Jesus cautioned them that the outcasts of society should have the seat of highest honor.

In Luke 14, Jesus addresses the Pharisees on table etiquette. They just loved to have the seat of distinction and had the habit of inviting prominent guests to their banquets. Jesus looked around the table and noticed how the guests picked the places of honor.  He told the host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:12-14).  This is God’s proper kingdom etiquette.

The early Church of Acts participated in a table set for the whosever. Everyone was welcomed and no person had any need.  “All the believers were together and had everything in common.  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need” (Acts 2:44-45).  Acts 4: 34 says, “there were no needy persons among them.” What a beautiful image.  Everyone had a place at the table, and not a single soul was left in the margins.  This is the Gospel lived out in the early Church.  This is the Gospel lived and taught by Jesus.  This is the Gospel we should still be living out today.  Every single soul should have a place at the table, and every soul should have their needs met.  Debie Thomas, in an article entitled, “Table Manners,” says, “Jesus asks us to believe that our behavior at the table matters — because it does.  Where we sit speaks volumes, and the people whom we choose to welcome reveals the stuff of our souls.”

In our faith communities, those with disabilities are often missing from our tables.  Stats show that around 80% of families affected by disabilities do not attend church because they have felt isolated, ostracized and alone. Think of some practical ways you can adapt your tables to include those with all types of disabilities who might be missing.

Discuss

1. How can we shift our seating orders and adjust our table manners/attitudes so that the last will be first and the least will be greatest?
2. Who do you know in the disability community that you can welcome as a friend, and offer a seat of belonging in your ministry circles?
3. What do you think it means to meet human need in the name of Jesus, without discrimination?

Identify

Dialogue about the following disabilities and your understanding of them based on experience and awareness:

Cerebral Palsy

Mobility disabilities

Deafness

Blindness

Cognitive impairment

Dyslexia

Down Syndrome

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Mental Health Disorders

Activity

Gather around a table or tables and practice the following activities, finding ways to make it so that the person with the identified disability could belong, as well:

• Your women’s group is going to wrap gifts for Christmas outreach that includes cutting paper and tying bows – one woman has cerebral palsy and can only use one hand. Provide supplies and have someone try wrapping a present with one hand behind their back.  How could you help the woman with CP to fully participate?
• Read Scripture for women’s ministry event. The person you are asking to read is legally blind. Blindfold a woman, hand her a Bible and ask her to read Scripture.  How could you make it so the woman who is blind can fully participate?
• You are presenting a devotional and one of your women is deaf. Give someone noise canceling earphones and ask her how it felt to miss what was shared. How can you allow the person who is deaf to fully participate?
• You attend a women’s retreat that has a very loud worship team. One woman is autistic and sensitive to loud noises. How can she be present, without being overwhelmed by the stimulation from the noise?
• It’s women’s ministry Sunday and your women’s group is going to present a responsive reading. One woman is in a wheelchair and doesn’t have access to platform. How can she participate like everyone else, without being isolated?
• It’s prayer time and everyone is silent. One woman with a cognitive disability has a hard time staying quiet.  How do you let her belong without asking her to change?
• Your group is writing encouraging notes to take to a nursing home. One woman in your group has a cognitive impairment and can’t spell words. How might she participate?

Prayer

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thank you for including us and choosing us to have seats of honor at Your table.  As we turn our hearts to you, help us to turn our tables to others.