Welcome to Holy Week 2015

For several years I have been writing a reflection for Holy Week. This year I am thinking about the conversations Jesus had with his disciples and friends around the table during the last week of this life.

In Middle Eastern culture conversations around food are very significant. The food is almost incidental to the conversation and the conversation is not about the food!

When I visit my friends from the Middle East, the conversation must always be around the table.

I am encouraging you and me to sit with Jesus this week and talk about what was on his heart and mind in the last week of his life. I encourage you to think about which of the disciples you identify with the most in these table talks with Jesus.

Paul Minear penned this provocative sentence: “Table fellowship as interpreted by the table talk constituted the gospel.” Table fellowship is an enactment of what the gospel is about: reconciliation. The Good News or gospel is about reconciling the God and people. Table talk is the embodiment of reconciliation. Eating with the enemy is not treason; eating with the enemy is the gospel lived. Jesus, the God-man, eats with the enemy.

I invite you to the table to eat and talk with Jesus.

Ron Friesen © 2015

One of the helpful resources for these meditations is Paul S. Minear, (1972). Commands of Christ, New York, New York: Abingdon Press.