My father passed away this week. He passed away like his father before him and his father’s father before him. One day I will also pass away, I suppose. It happens to all of us…if we live long enough (lol). That doesn’t make it any less heart wrenching when you lose a loved one. We weren’t created for death. We were created for life. That is our hope, my father’s assurance and hope, that we will spend eternity with our Life-Giving Father in Heaven. We will gather around the table of a wedding feast for an eternal celebration with our Heavenly Father, His Son, and His Son’s Bride. My father is there already, waiting “patiently” for the food.

Some of the best memories I have of my father and family involve gathering around a table for meals and fellowship. As I look back on those times, I realize that the fellowship was just as important as the food. Sure, we needed food for sustenance and strength, but we needed the fellowship, the development of relationships, for emotional strength and support, for life. Those relationships are as important to our life as the air we breathe. Relationships are the breath, the heartbeat, of our deeper lives. They contribute to a flourishing life.

I believe Jesus loved sharing meals. He ate with Pharisees, chief priests, friends, His friends’ friends (consider Matthew’s friends), and tax collectors. He fed thousands on at least two occasions. He enjoyed a “Last Supper” with His disciples, which in reality became the first of many suppers we call the Eucharist or Communion today. Perhaps we could more aptly call the “Last Supper” the “Prototype” or “Maiden Supper.” I also find it interesting that Jesus ate so often with those his contemporaries would consider “sinners” or “unworthy.” Still, He welcomed them into the fellowship of a shared meal. Why? Because they sought Him out. They were curious about Him. They wanted to know Him and He wanted to be known by them. That’s all it took for Him to welcome a person to the table of a shared meal: a desire to know Him and to become known by Him. I love that He often had a story to tell as well, a lesson to teach them about Himself and His Kingdom.

I imagine my father sitting at the table with his Father and Jesus now, smiling more broadly than I have seen for some time, enjoying not only good food but wonderful fellowship filled with curious questions and conversation. So many questions arise as we wrestle with God and His Word during our lifetime. So many things we want to know about our Father and His character. Now, over a wonderful meal, my father can ask his questions and listen enthusiastically to the answer. My father loved a good story, so I’m sure he is sharing some of his best with Jesus as Jesus shares with him.

I imagine an empty chair next to him, a chair saved for my mother, his wife of 64 years. Scattered around the table are spaces for the rest of us too, his family and his friends. One day, we will all gather to share a celebratory meal of the best foods. More importantly, we’ll share the joys of conversation. Questions about which we have been curious (and those we had not even thought of) will be answered. Euphoric laughter and tears of jubilant joy will eternally draw us into deeper intimacy and fellowship.

Until then, we’ll miss you dad. Save us a place at the table…and some apple pie with ice cream.