What is often obscured from view by the fervent activity and heated debate about social justice is that there will be no righteous community unless Christ reigns there, for He reigns by God’s righteous covenant. It is only at Christ’s table, eating the bread and drinking the cup, where Jew and Gentile, black and white, rich and poor, male and female, slave and freeman, native and immigrant may sit down together in unity, in love and justice. Christ’s table alone holds forth the Gospel to us, the only hope of reconciling us to God and us to one another in this fallen world. No other table can accommodate the vast and varied sea of men, women and children broken battered and bruised by wave after wave of sin. The fundamental deliverance occurs through Christ’s redemption, in which all of our identities (I identify as) are crucified with Christ and we are risen to a new identity (I am identified as) in Christ alone (Colossians 3:1-11).
With all the finger pointing and angry brows, we may ask ourselves, “how can matters ever be made right?” Forgiveness with God and forgiveness of each other happens only at Christ’s table. The table of political power, the table of wealth redistribution, the table of land reparation, the table of historical revision, the table of philosophy and ethics, the table of personal liberty, the table of “pull yourself up by your own boot straps”, the table of ecumenical religion, the table of intercultural dialogue: every other table is a sad shamble of sticks thrown together by fifth-rate carpenters, not level, unbalanced, skewed by selfishness, lust and pride. Only one Carpenter has built a table for all to come without distinction, and He built it with three nails two wooden beams and His own blood.
Our hunger for Justice is ravenous. The leech’s two daughters are named “give” and “give” but their appetite fails to compare with that of those made in God’s image. You and I must come to Christ’s table to feast on His flesh and blood, by faith holding to His justice-satisfying sacrifice on the cross. Justice is never achieved except by the justified. We are nourished by the Gospel of Christ when we come to the table. We recognize our Sovereign, risen, reigning King Who has suffered more abuse and injustice than us all, and pleaded with the Father for his oppressors to be forgiven, seeking their salvation. We find in His broken body and shed blood a satisfying sacrifice to God for men, women and children of every tribe tongue and nation. Every person I meet, no matter their race, ethnicity, class or appearance, should remind me of the kinds of people Christ died for on the cross. Christ died for me, though I have no value to add to His kingdom. I’m no prize. I’m no “good man” worth saving. My King shows me that righteousness and justice are qualities bound up with the character of God and not the intrinsic value of human beings. Because we are created in the image of God, we crave justice and righteousness. Because we are created in the image of God, these cravings can only be satisfied at Christ’s table. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6).
