My Cup Overflows

You prepare a table before me

In the presence of my enemies,

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Psalm 23:5

Does your cup overflow when you feel surrounded by enemies, when the people around you mock you, work against you, and undermine you? We so easily become discouraged and depressed rather than draw closer to the One who wipes our tears and calls us beloved. What does it mean that the Good Shepherd prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies? What does it mean that the Good Shepherd anoints my head with oil?

In The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament, Kenneth E. Bailey describes this passage as a shift in Psalm 23. He argues that the imagery shifts from animal to human. Can you see it? The image of hospitality and healing reminds the reader of themes throughout Scripture, particularly in the ministry of Jesus.

• Jesus dined with sinners such as Zacchaeus while the righteous looked on with scornful disdain.

• Jesus broke and multiplied bread to feed the multitudes in the presence of enemies.

• The father of the prodigal son prepared a banquet in the face of the older son’s jealous despair.

• Jesus healed the sick and lame despite the disapproval of the religious leaders.

Jesus prepares a table in the presence of our enemies. Jesus anoints our head with oil…Jesus dines and anoints us even as onlookers seek to mock and destroy. Bailey writes, “He demonstrates costly love to me irrespective of who is watching. People hostile to me will observe what he is doing and he knows that their hostility against me will be extended to him as a result. He doesn’t care. He offers that love anyway.”[1] Jesus, our Good Shepherd, lays down his life for us (John 10:11).

The image of the table and cup most reminds me of the Eucharist, the moment Jesus broke bread and poured wine, now a remembrance of His broken body and shed blood. Jesus prepares a table before us, a table of sacrificial love, a table that made a pathway toward an intimate relationship with our Creator. Jesus dined with His disciples in the presence of building evil forces, enemies even among His own ranks. And yet, He still broke the bread and poured the wine. Jesus still embodied that broken bread and poured wine through His death on the cross.

The word Eucharist means to give thanks. His body broken for us. His blood shed for us. He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. He dines with us. He heals us…and we are to respond by giving thanks. Giving thanks means we keep our eyes on the One who most loves us. Giving thanks means we obey the call to pray for our enemies and love as Jesus loves. Giving thanks means we submit all to Him, taking up our cross and living sacrificially for others. Giving thanks means dying to self. And, as we live the cruciform life, our cup will overflow with the abundant life given through Jesus Christ.

[1][1] Kenneth E. Bailey, The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey From Psalm 23 to the New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 57.