Oops.
Look out.
It’s that John the Baptist again, you know, the prophet.
About this time of the year, every year, he shows up and does something crazy/impossible.
Sometimes he hijacks Christmas parades and leads them off on an adventure, sometimes he has that roto tiller and tills up a straight line all the way across town to prepare the way of the Lord.
It looks like this year he’s up to it again.
He’s set up a dinner table right there on the town square. A nice table too, fine settings, sumptuous food.
He keeps inviting people over to have a seat and join him at table, “Welcome to my dining room!”
Pretty soon the table was full.
So what did he do? He added another leaf and made it longer.
And then another and another and another, quickly the dining room table got longer and longer crossing the street, crossing neighborhoods crossing the town, “Welcome to my dining room!” echoing in the distance. The Guinness Book of world records is on the way. Television helicopters are flying around. The police are out directing table. Some mental health officials came to evaluate John, but they ended up joining in on the fun and took a seat. That crazy table just keeps on growing.
It is kind of a different way to see things: that the world is our dining room and everyone is our special invited guest to whom we are responsible for their well being.
This is a crazy time of the year, we all go at least a little off, so a crazy vision of a table that just keeps on growing is very appropriate.
John the Baptist’s sermon tells us that this is what it means to be the children of Abraham, to have that vision of the world, to be the host, to share and to not extort.
Abraham was legendary for his hospitality to strangers, for entertaining angels unaware. John tells us to be like that, to be that kind of child of Abraham.
That vision of the world is how John tells us to prepare for God’s dinner table, for the banquet of the messiah, that crazy table spans the universe.
Be expectant. Be prepared.
The world is your dining room.
We are one another’s special invited guests.
The crazy table has arrived.