Gospel: Matthew 9: 9-13
The ancient practice of hospitality was an ethical duty to provide shelter and food to travelers, to those without homes, the stranger and alien. Abraham exhibits this practice in providing for three strangers who show up at his residence. Those who have a home, those who are not lost and well fed have no need for hospitality, though it would still be provided by the ancient custom. This hospitality forms the basis and foundation for Jesus' table fellowship meals that take place throughout the Gospels.
The table of the Lord is primarily for those who are estranged from God, journeying to God, without home or food; in short, it is primarily for sinners. The righteous are also welcome, as the Lord turns no one away, but to approach the Lord's table is to acknowledge one's sinfulness, one's need for food and shelter, one's status as on a journey to our homeland.
In every time and place it is the righteous who will seek to restrict access to the Lord's table to only themselves, unaware of the fact that there are no righteous in this world. There are only sinners, only a full complement of humanity all with the same need, the same hunger, the same journey. And there is only one table for all where these needs are met. We must never turn anyone away from it.
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