I must have been in about the sixth grade when I heard about King Arthur and the Round Table, and it left my math nerd mind in a confused state. In my mind I saw a round table with a hole in the center where the king sat, but I thought to myself, who would want to sit behind the king. I soon saw a picture of King Arthur and the Round Table, but I still couldn’t see how a round table would end the squabbling among the knights; someone would still be on the left and the right of the king, while others would be further away.

I think I was considerably older when I learned that the head of the table was a special honor, and that those of most importance were seated near the head. Since a round table doesn’t have a head, all seats are equivalent. The keyword is “all”, and the round table only works if you realize that the King is placing himself at the same rank as the rest of the knights.

Jesus had a similar experience at the Last Supper, when the disciples squabbled among themselves about who was the greatest. Jesus responded that the greatest should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. Paul also emphasizes this lack of ranks in Christianity in Galatians 3:28 where he writes “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Before moving to Ocala I was a member of a Moravian Church, and they note that we are especially equal in death; hence in a Moravian graveyard all the stones are simple flat markers.

Jesus went even further than King Arthur. Before the Last Supper He washed the feet of the disciples. Later He said that He came as one to serve. At Calvary Jesus would show this by dying a painful, earthly death on the cross. What a way to show that His love for YOU and me is unconditional.

Jim