There May Be Room for Our Enemies at the Table

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. - Ps. 23:5

Psalm 23 closes with this famous picture of a feast - food and wine are flowing, and all kinds of goodness and blessing cascades down on us.

Until last Sunday, I had always seen this as a picture of eating alone in front of my enemies who had to sit there and watch God favor me. It was a sort of stick-it-to-them moment when I got my revenge because God favored me. But then Israel Rubio painted the picture of whether this is a hotdog contest or a holiday meal…

The hotdog contest is a solo table where you stuff your face alone. The holiday meal has lots of seats at the table, and there’s always room for more in case someone extra shows up. As Israel pointed out, Jesus was not so interested in hotdog contests. So why would I think that Psalm 23 is a solo meal instead of an extended family fiesta?

Of course, there has to be a disclaimer here - that we still get to be protected from the enemies that are still bent on oppression and wounding us (that’s what so much of this Psalm is about, after all).

But what about the enemies who start to soften and realize that they need grace too? Wouldn’t Jesus invite them to the table?

Take some time today to visualize that table… who is sitting at it? Who is at the head of it? Who might be hanging out around the corners of the room who might like a seat at it?