At The Table

This is an excerpt from the Upper Room Devotional for October 2, 2026. It goes well with what we are and our mission.

Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus sharing meals with others. In fact, some of the most memorable moments of his ministry involve food - the feeding of the five thousand, and the store of Martha and Mary, the Last Supper, the disciples' recognition of Jesus after his resurrection. The table is a place of mercy and grace, welcome and belonging, Jesus gathered people together despite - or maybe because of - their differences. And when people ate with Jesus, they were never the same. Jusk ask Zacchaeus.

Jesus understood the power of shared meal to effect change in the lives of those he invited to the table and the table's unique ability to transform the relationship between host and guest and to change the relationships among the guests. I think that is why we find him eating with such diverse groups of people - groups that included society's outcasts, rejects, tax collectors and sinners. It's difficult to continue to feel antipathy toward someone you have broken bread with. The "other" becomes more human over a meal. I assume this is why in Luke 14 Jesus tells us to invite to our own tables those whom the world casts aside, not our friends and those who think and look like us.

Andrew Garland Breeden, Senior Editor Upper Room