Jesus at the table - Lent 37

For today's post I'm going to back out of sequence in terms of The Passion. But it's a deliberate move because the Greatest Story Ever Told is being told for a reason, and that reason always comes into much clearer focus every time I think of my family.

Naomi and Craig came to Brandon for a week, just in time for my birthday. It would have been great to have Andrew in the mix too, but Tuscany is more of a challenge than Connecticut and we are, after all, heading his way in June. I know I talk about my children a lot, but they tell the story of redemption and reconciliation so clearly that I can't help but listen.

And so I'm jumping back to John 12, the chapter before Jesus settles down to that long, last feast with his friends. Here it is, with Jesus once again attending a dinner.

• Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

There is peace around the table; in the Master's presence; hanging out with Jesus. And look who's there! Lazarus - until recently, dead! On my birthday last week we ate a long dinner together. But food - as in bread, wine, lasagna, chicken Parmesan, cannelloni, spaghetti, coffee, chocolate cake etc. - was only a small part of the occasion. It was love that held sway over the evening.

Likewise my brother's birthday celebration two days later. That's where the photograph was taken, at my niece Hannah's home.

This Easter story is all about living completely, radically, consummately; living out loud. Living as if we mean it is a theme of mine at the moment. That is, after all, why Jesus was willing to give absolutely everything for the very people he reclined at table with. He is still most welcome; not as a guest but family. Celebration is incomplete any other way.

Love and blessings - DEREK