A POWERFUL LITTLE WORD
For everyone born, there is a place at the table. Even for you and for me. And that’s why Jesus spread himself among all the people – the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong, the young and the old, the proud and the humble, the needy and the greedy, the lost and the found, the religious and the ungodly.
In Matthew’s Great Commission, the disciples were directed to meet with Jesus on the mountain. There is no mention of how Jesus looked, no visible glory. It is what he says that’s so important. Jesus makes it very clear that he is the mission commander when he says, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” I give the orders. So go, make disciples, baptize, and teach. Move out and I will support you to the end. Notice the little word all – all authority, all nations, obey all, and I am with you all ways. That three-letter word means total, entire, complete, universal. Nothing is left out. No one is left out. There is a place at the table for everyone.
Those commissioned were still called disciples. Does that mean, even as leaders, they were to continue to grow and learn?
Every time Jesus spoke, touched, and healed the sick, cast out demons, fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind, freed the prisoners, he was saying there is room, there is a place at the table for you. A special place is reserved for you, no matter who you are, or where you have been, or what sins you are guilty of. There is a place for you, a place for all of us, at God’s table.
We thank you, Father, that you make a place at the table for everyone. Teach us how to be your disciples as we go out into the world with your message of the good news of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
