Robert Clements
How we love sitting at the Head Table!
I decided to walk over and interview one.
“Hi!” I said.
“Sit!” ordered the Head Table. “Make yourself comfortable. There is a waiter at the back who will bring you juice or anything stronger!”
“But isn’t this a teetotaller crowd?” I asked.
“Yes, but you are at the Head Table. Here you can drink, eat, smoke, shout and say anything you want. You can even put your legs on me!”
“But what about leadership?” I asked. “Isn’t this where you motivate your juniors and make crucial decisions?”
“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the Head Table. All the other tables and chairs joined in.
“See that man in the white cassock?” it asked.
“He is a priest,” I said. “And he is staring at you!”
“He is in love with me,” whispered the Head Table. “He wants to occupy this place.”
“But he has none of the qualities of a leader!”
“He knows how to reach the Head Table. Watch!”
I watched as the priest tripped a fellow priest, stabbed another in the back and whispered into the ears of two others until they began fighting. All the while, he edged closer.
“Move over!” he ordered me.
“But you have no right to sit here,” I protested. “You do not know how to lead or serve!”
The Head Table chuckled as the priest, who wanted to become a bishop, replied, “I don’t want to lead or serve. I only want to sit here with my legs up! Those who lead and serve are sitting over there.”
He pointed towards the last row of the hall.
I walked across and found men and women washing the wounds of the injured, listening to grievances, comforting the grieving and helping ordinary people solve their problems.
“Why don’t you sit at the Head Table?” I asked them. “That is your rightful place!”
“For us, this is the Head Table,” said a man wearing Jewish robes, with long hair and a beard. “There is far more I can do here than there.”
Above Him, I saw a verse stretched out for all to see: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” Mark 10:43 and 44.
Jesus never taught His disciples how to capture the highest seat. He knelt and washed their feet. He showed them that authority is not the privilege of being served, but the responsibility of serving.
Sadly, in our political, religious and social institutions, many climb upwards by pushing others down. They want the chair, the title and the applause, but not the burden.
I looked back at the leaders with their feet upon the Head Table. Then I looked at those serving quietly in the last row.
And suddenly I knew where the real Head Table was..!
