The Table Series: Communion in Everyday Life

 

Session 1: The Table of Welcome

Based on Luke 5:29 and Luke 5:31–32

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I. The House Filled With Outsiders

Levi, also called Matthew, was a tax collector.
He was wealthy, disliked, and viewed as a traitor by his own people.
Yet when Jesus called him, he responded immediately.
His first act as a follower of Christ was not preaching or performing miracles.
It was opening his home.

“Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.” (Luke 5:29)

The first table Jesus gathered around in Levi’s home was not filled with saints.
It was filled with outsiders, skeptics, broken people, and outcasts.

Henri Nouwen wrote,

“The table is the place where brokenness is converted into communion.”

Welcome is not an afterthought in the kingdom.
It is the doorway through which grace enters.

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II. The Hospitality of Grace

The religious leaders were shocked.
They could not understand why Jesus would sit at a table with those they avoided.

“But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complained to His disciples,
‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Luke 5:30)

Jesus answered not with rebuke but with clarity.

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31–32)

Jesus used a table as His first pulpit for Levi.
The meal became a declaration of divine hospitality.
Grace made room where others closed the door.

Thomas Merton wrote,

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves.”

Christ welcomed people as they were, and by doing so, He made transformation possible.

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III. The Table as Sanctuary

In many cultures, to sit at someone’s table is to receive more than food.
It is to receive friendship, acceptance, and peace.
Jesus understood this deeply.
He used tables as sanctuaries long before He used crosses as symbols.

A meal slows us down.
It brings us close enough to see one another’s humanity.
It becomes a place where judgment is replaced by listening, and distance is replaced by presence.

Dallas Willard wrote,

“The presence of God is most naturally experienced in the ordinary moments of life,
when we stop long enough to recognize that He is already here.”

The table becomes sacred when we notice who sits across from us.

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IV. The Invitation to Extend Welcome

The table of Jesus is not exclusive.
It is wide.
It is open.
It is generous.

He welcomed doubters.
He welcomed failures.
He welcomed the curious and the broken.
His hospitality was not based on worthiness but on need.

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (Romans 15:7)

The table becomes holy when it becomes inclusive.
When we welcome others as Christ welcomed us, we become vessels of His grace in the simplest of ways.

Henri Nouwen wrote,

“Hospitality means creating a space where the stranger can enter and become a friend.”

The table is where strangers become friends through love that listens.

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V. The Invitation

Jesus’ table is a place of welcome for the outsider and healing for the wounded.
It is a place where grace sits down beside the sinner and says,
“There is room for you here.”

“Come, all you who are thirsty.” (Isaiah 55:1)

In every meal, every gathering, every moment of shared fellowship, God turns the ordinary into sacred communion.
The table is not a small detail.
It is a window into the heart of Christ.

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Practicing the Table of Welcome This Week

1. Make room for someone.
   Invite someone into your space this week, even if it is simple.
   Hospitality is not about the menu.
   It is about the heart.

2. Pause before a meal.
   Whisper a quiet prayer:
   “Lord, make this table a place of welcome.”

3. See people through grace.
   Choose one person you usually overlook.
   Offer them attention, kindness, or encouragement.

4. Create a listening space.
   When eating with someone, ask one question that shows genuine care.
   Let the table become a sanctuary.

5. Pray for a welcoming spirit.

   “Lord, open my heart and my home.
   Let my table reflect Your kindness.
   Teach me to welcome others as You have welcomed me.”