In the Palestine of his time, the table was a place where the divisions and stratifications of the society were particularly on display, but at Jesus’ table, all were welcome: saints and sinners, the just and the unjust, the healthy and the sick, men and women. This open-table fellowship was not simply a challenge to the societal status quo, but also an expression of God’s deepest intentions vis-à-vis the human race, the realization of Isaiah’s eschatological dream.
