To sit at the table...

Monday, January 26, 2015

Rogelio Zelada - Office of Lay Ministry

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The people of Jericho were unable to withhold their murmur of disapproval. The Nazarene would be eating with Zacchaeus. With Zacchaeus! He was a wealthy and completely corrupt tax collector, a perfect exploiter so infamous that no honest and faithful Jew would have entertained the thought of entering his house and sitting at his table. 

In Israel, supper was sort of a celebratory ritual, a ceremony that reasserted the social and religious role of the participants.

Sitting at the table required the dinner guest to ask himself several questions before sharing with the other guests. He needed to know where and whom he would sit next to, verify the process of preparing the meal, what utensils would be used, what, when and where to eat a certain food, etc. Sitting at the table was a public declaration of acceptance of the other guests and their social standing.

That is why a significant sign of forgiveness is reflected when the father organizes a banquet for his prodigal son in the Gospel of Luke. A fattened calf was roasted so the entire neighborhood, while sharing the supper, could express its approval of the unconditional forgiveness of the father, who not only wants to reunite his son with the family, but also with the community. 

By sharing a supper with sinners, Jesus earns the rejection of the Scribes and the Pharisees, who cannot accept the inclusiveness of his message and the ways of Jesus, which go beyond every obstacle raised by the interpretation of the Law. His word disturbs and shakes the notions of those who are looking to occupy the best seats but are invited to take the last. They are also asked not to make a guest list of relatives, friends and wealthy neighbors, but of the hungry and the needy from the village. 

The mixing of classes and groups caused serious disagreements when wealthy and poor Christians, masters and slaves, men and women, Jews and gentiles, had to assemble for the celebration of the Eucharist in the early communities. Sharing a public meal with people of a lower level was not well accepted; if discovered, participants risked being rejected by their family or the people who shared their same financial or class status. 

Supper in Israel consisted of just a few things. The daily diet of the poor was a piece of bread, salt and water at sunset. The word “bread,” or “Lehem” in Hebrew, was used both for the actual bread and for all nourishment. The preferred bread was made out of wheat but usually it was not within the reach of the poor, who resigned themselves to barley or millet bread. 

It is meaningful that the great miracle with which Christ fed the multitude only included bread (the meal of the poor) and fish (the typical food for celebrating the Sabbath). Fish, which usually was eaten salty, was abundant along the coast and the Sea of Galilee, but it was hard to find in the cities. 

Depending on a person’s purchasing power, legumes could be found at the table, especially lentils and kidney beans; and although the most popular vegetable was cabbage, turnips were what satisfied the hunger of the poor, who could not afford the luxury of yard meat or lamb. 

There was also wine, which was usually mixed in equal proportion with water; honey and figs supplied the need for sugar; and some suppers included hen eggs, fruits, olive oil, butter and cheeses. 

In its beautiful ending by the lake, the Gospel of John shows us the Risen Lord who has invited the disciples for a breakfast of bread and fried fish that he has loving and carefully prepared for them. Sitting at the table is always to be done with friends.