Parable of the Wooden Bowl

The old man’s sight was failing. His hands trembled. He could no longer live alone so he went to live with his son, his son’s wife, and his four-year old grandson, Andy. Eating was difficult for the old man. Peas rolled off his spoon. Tea spilled on the tablecloth. The old man chipped a saucer and cracked a plate.

The son’s wife complained so often that the husband finally gave in to her demand. The old man would take his meals alone in the kitchen. He would eat from a wooden bowl. The family continued to eat in the dining room, but Andy missed his Grandpa.

One afternoon Andy’s parents noticed their son playing with scraps of wood. They asked him what he was making and Andy explained, “I’m making a wooden bowl for you to eat your food when I grow up.” The words struck the parents speechless. That evening Andy’s father took his Dad’s hand and gently led him back to the family table.

In our lives we are like the old man, unsteady and blind. We make a mess of things, we break things, and we make others uncomfortable. Yet God takes us by the hand and leads us to the Family Table. It may be called an “altar” and the family meal may be called “Communion” or “Eucharist.” We are made welcome because of what God’s Son has done, and if we stay away from the family table, God’s Son seeks us in order to bring us to the fellowship of His table.