Jesus, the Everlasting Advocate: Fighting for All Who Want a Seat at the Table

From the moment Jesus walked among us, He was confronting systems that denied, excluded, and diminished. He did not simply preach about the Kingdom—He embodied it. His Table was not a metaphor; it was a place of radical welcome, where the forgotten were remembered and the unworthy were honored. Every meal He shared, every act of healing, every rebuke of the self-righteous was a battle for those the world had cast aside. And He has never stopped fighting.

When Jesus reclined at tables with tax collectors, sinners, and the unclean, He was not just breaking bread—He was breaking strongholds. The unspoken rules of religious and social order dictated who was worthy of belonging, but Jesus overturned them with every act of welcome. He fought not with weapons, but with presence, with love that would not bow to fear. To those who had been told they had no place—women dismissed as impure, lepers condemned as untouchable, the poor rendered invisible—Jesus said, Come.

But this fight was not waged in mere sentimentality. It was a fight that cost Him everything. He walked into the Temple and overturned the tables of those who profited from exclusion. He rebuked the Pharisees who burdened others with laws they themselves did not bear. He stood between the condemned woman and the stones of her accusers, refusing to let the spirit of the Law be twisted into a weapon against the very people it was meant to heal. Every step He took was a declaration that the Table of God would not be a banquet for the privileged few, but a feast for all who hungered.

And when He stretched His arms on the cross, He was fighting still. The powers of this world—the political empires, the religious elites, the voices of condemnation—believed they had won. They sealed His tomb, thinking they had silenced the invitation. But they did not understand that His very death was the opening of the Table. The veil was torn, the dividing wall was destroyed, and what had been kept for the few was now flung wide for the many. The Lamb was slain, but the feast was only beginning.

Even now, He fights—not with wrath, but with the relentless force of grace. He fights in the hearts of those the world has broken, whispering, You are seen. You are wanted. You belong. He fights through those who bear His name, calling them to set a table where the poor are fed, the weary are comforted, and the stranger is welcomed as family. And He fights against every force—spiritual, systemic, and internal—that tells us we are not enough, that we are too lost, too sinful, too unworthy to take our seat.

The Table of the Lord is not a static relic of history—it is an ever-living reality, a place that Jesus Himself keeps open, keeps expanding, keeps defending. The fight is not over, because there are still voices saying, You don’t belong here. But He is still speaking back: Come, take, eat. This is My body, given for you.

The battle was never about exclusivity—it was about love unchained. Jesus does not stop fighting because He does not stop loving. And as long as there is even one soul who longs for a place at the Table, He will be there, overturning barriers, silencing accusers, and making room where there seemed to be none. His invitation stands. His fight continues. The Table is open.

~ Dr. Mark Chironna