Something happens around the table that changes those who are given a seat at the table. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he invited a rag-tag group of sinners to have a seat at the table. The table was so important that while Mark described, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost,” Luke suggested, “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking.”
There’s something about what happens at the table that demonstrates what matters to Jesus.
From the table at Zacchaeus’ house where Jesus surprisingly hung out with a tax collector, to the table where Jesus’ reputation was at risk while his feet got washed by a prostitute, to the table where he ate with his closest friends just before they all abandoned him - each table was about more than the food they ate.
Brennan Manning in Ragamuffin Gospel describes the crowds at these meals, “The guest list would include a ragtag parade of donkey peddlers, prostitutes, herdsmen, slumlords, and gamblers.”