Sunday Dinner: Luke 14:12-15--"Carried to the Table"

Okay. I'm back. We had a wonderful spring break week starting with Good Friday, continuing on Easter Sunday, having fun as a family throughout the week, and rejoicing at a wedding yesterday. We also had an eventful week, which is my alibi for not posting much recently. One "event" was Daniel breaking his arm last night while riding his bike. I'll share more about that later, but he was a trooper and was so proud to find out that he is the first in our family to break a bone. He also got glasses on Friday and looks precious in them.

The wedding we had the privilege to attend was for my husband Brad's mom. I have some beautiful photos of this sweet couple but don't want to post them without their permission (and I'm not going to bother them on their honeymoon to ask), but here's one of our kiddos at the wedding. (Note Daniel's cuteness in his new glasses.)



If you are a new reader, I should explain that I do something on Sundays called Sunday Dinner. The inspiration behind it is here, but in a nutshell it's a dinner of scripture followed by a dessert of song. The scripture that comes to mind after much dining together with family and friends over Easter weekend and with this wedding is from Luke 14:

"Then Jesus said to his host, 'When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or 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.' When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, 'Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. ' "

Luke 14:12-15

I have really missed the boat on this one. Those who we invite to dinner are usually family and friends. Perhaps the most foreign guest that we've invited to sit at our table is Daniel--and he was invited knowing he would be welcome every day for the rest of his life. He is not "poor, crippled, lame, or blind" but he was broken, lost, abandoned, without hope. What great joy it is to hear him laugh at our dinner table. To see him inhale his food and hear him exclaim, "Oh, Mama, this is so good!" To have a child who once went days without food sit at my table and pat his full belly. And to watch him at Easter dinners and wedding feasts partake in the celebrations as if he's always been part of the family.

But I have feasted at the King's table. I was poor, crippled, lame, and blinded by sin. Undeserving of this place of honor, yet welcomed as part of His family. The thought humbles and overwhelms me.

This week's song of dessert is a favorite. "Carried to the Table" by Leeland sums up these thoughts so beautifully. To be so broken that I had to be carried to the table, yet as I dine with my Father, I begin to heal and even forget my brokenness.

This week may you understand just what it means to feast at the table of your Adoptive Father. And just like Daniel, may you devour His sustenance and proclaim that "This is so good!"

More Than Lots,
Kathie