Who do we associate with at the office water cooler, or the break room? Who do we sit with for lunch at school, work, or a coffee and donuts after Mass on Sunday? Whose social invitations do we accept? Whose do we reject and why? Who are the “right” or “wrong” people as far as personal associations or friendships are concerned? When it comes to religion, who are the “saved” or the “damned”?
One of the most striking and controversial features of Jesus’ public ministry was his custom of sharing meals with marginal or disreputable persons. Both the Pharisees, who observe and comment on Jesus’ action in today’s gospel, as well the Essenes (another religious group of the day), conducted communal meals with religious overtones. Their meals were exclusive in that only the “right” people could participate. So, once again the questions: Who gets invited to our table? And, at whose tables do we sit?
It is no accident that in choosing the way in which he would forever remain present after leaving this world, Jesus identified himself and the sacrifice of his life on the cross with bread broken and passed and wine poured out and shared in a meal around a communal table. Each Mass we celebrate makes present in the here and now the person, words, values and deeds of Jesus. In his call of the tax collector Matthew to be a member of his innermost circle of friends and his action of going to Matthew’s house to share a meal, Jesus is offering us both comfort and challenge. Comfort, that like Matthew, regardless of what our past or present life situation may be, God in Jesus has, and continues, to choose us as his friends and sits himself down at table with us in this Mass. We celebrate this grace in each Mass, when at the invitation to Holy Communion we proclaim, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” Hopefully, these words of simple, humble faith erupt from the depths of true sincerity of heart, so that, like Abraham, our faith, too, is credited to us as “righteousness”, putting and keeping us in right relationship with God.
At the same time, the words and deeds of Jesus in today’s Gospel, and in each Mass, also send us forth to live his example and “do this in memory of me.”
This past Wednesday the Des Moines Register featured a guest editorial by Rev. Shannon Michael Pater, pastor of Urbandale United Church of Christ and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, of which the Catholic Church is a member. The title of Pastor Pater’s reflection was: “For Fruitful ‘God Talk,’ See Divine In Others.” Pastor Pater spoke of the too often divisiveness that marks our discourse as citizens and members of the church on many levels: personal, political, racial, spiritual, theological. Pastor Pater noted that the root for the noun “religion” is the Latin verb “religio” meaning to “bind together.” Pastor Pater went on the further note, that religious doctrine (and I would add practice) that disregards the sacred worth of another will destructively (rather than constructively) bind us. He then went on to ask: “How would we shape our policy on immigration and undocumented workers if we remained steadfastly committed to seeing each person as sacred? …How would our efforts to combat homelessness, poverty and starvation be transformed if we declared these to be offenses against God and the scourge of a great nation?”
These types of conversations, particularly over a meal, can lead to indigestion” Pastor Pater continued. “But in my religious tradition, it is in the breaking of the bread around a communal table that the divine can be (I would add “is”) revealed. It is in the passing of the bread (and I would add the “sharing of the cup”) that we can most easily see the divinity in each other.”
God speaking through the prophet Hosea tells us, “It is love that I desire, not sacrifice, knowledge of God rather than holocausts,” God tells us through his prophet Hosea, and “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” through his son, Jesus.
So, who do I sit with at table? And who gets invited to sit with me at table?