The crippled young man
was carried into the room. He had heard about the one he was about to
meet and had mixed feelings. Were the stories all true? He heard
that this ruler had been responsible for killing thousands of people. He
was a great warrior and was greatly feared. He could give a command and
it would be obeyed quickly. The whole country was under his control.
Other countries feared him as well.
The young man heard that
this ruler had humble beginnings. He had heard that he was a man just
like him, except not crippled. He was honored and excited to get a chance
to even see someone that entire families would never see throughout
generations. What kind of man was he about to meet? Why did he want
to see him? Why did he bring him here? Was he in trouble?
That could be the only explanation because he had nothing to offer.
After all, what could a crippled man offer to a king? So,
Mephibosheth was sat down in the presence of King David and this is where our
story begins.
This story is a good
picture of what God’s grace is like. King David was a powerful man.
Mephibosheth was a crippled man. David initiated with Mephibosheth
and not the other way around. The king brought Mephibosheth to himself
just like God draws people to himself for salvation. David brought
Mephibosheth out of a barren land just like God can bring us out of the barren
land of sin and into the land of peace. He shows gentleness to
Mephibosheth just how God exercises gentleness over us. The crippled man
was brought into a relationship with the King through somebody else that he
knew, not because he had something to offer the king. In the same way,
God has given us forgiveness if we belong to Jesus Christ. Even though
Mephibosheth wasn’t actually a son of the king, he was adopted just like God
adopted us. David was elaborate in his generosity towards Mephibosheth
just like God is toward us.
David, like God,
initiated; 1 Samuel 9:1-4
David asked, "Is there anyone still left of
the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?" Now
there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They called him to appear
before David, and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" "Your
servant," he replied. The king asked, "Is there no one still
left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?" Ziba
answered the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in
both feet." "Where is he?" the king asked. Ziba
answered, "He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar."
I tried to imagine what
it must have been like for Mephibosheth. His daily routine was probably
quite exhausting. He was crippled in both feet so he probably needed help
to do simple tasks. Being able to work in order to make a living would
also be a challenge. He probably pictured himself bound to family members
for the rest of his life, being in the same old house, in the same old town,
with his same old family, with his same old crippled feet. Then came a
knock at the door.
“Who did you say wanted
to see me? I’m sorry. I don’t know of anyone with the first name
‘King’. Also, there are three Mephibosheths that live on this street.
You must have the wrong house.”
The act of David seeking
out Mephibosheth was an act of grace in the same way that God seeks after us.
In Romans 3:10-11 it says,
“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous,
not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.’”
Later on it says how we
can be justified before God if none of us seek after God. In verse 23-24
Paul says,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God, and are justified freely by his grace…” –Romans 3:23-24
God comes searching for
us. That’s an act of His grace.
“…to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s
sake?”—1 Samuel 9:1
David sought
Mephibosheth as an act of grace as well. Did David show
kindness for Mephibosheth’s sake? No. It was for Jonathan’s sake.
David and Jonathan had a relationship with each other long before
Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, was born. Because of David’s love for
Jonathan He showed kindness to Mephibosheth. This is similar to the way
God has showered us with kindness. Long before we were ever born the
Father and the Son were in a relationship. The Father and the Son loved
each other. God created people, then Jesus came to the Earth to die for
those people because they were sinners in need of saving.
Let’s look at the
Bible to see why God showered us with kindness. Was it because we were
loveable? Was it because we could offer him something or give something
back to Him in return? Over 15 years ago somebody showed me a way to
study the book of Ephesians. It changed the way I viewed God’s grace that
was given to me. It helped me to escape the performance trap. Since
I was about to enter into full-time ministry this was something I needed to
hear. It stopped me from thinking that I could do something to earn God’s
love or that I could do something to make God stop loving me.
This friend told me to
print out the book of Ephesians in the New Living Translation. The NLT is
just a little bit easier to understand because of some of the things I was
going to look for. I would encourage you to do the same. As you
read Ephesians underline every passage that talks about God doing something.
For example, in 1:3 it says that He has “blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly realms…” Then circle the reason why God did what
He did. For example in verse 3 it says that He blessed us “because we are
united with Christ.”
This shows that God was
doing things for us before we could ever do anything for Him. And he was
giving things to us not because of what we could do in return for Him but
because of what Christ did for us. Think about the parallels between
Ephesians and 2 Samuel 9: Jonathan and David had a relationship before
Mephibosheth was ever born. The Father and Jesus had a relationship
before we were ever born. They both loved each other like Jonathan and
David did. The reason that David showed kindness to Mephibosheth was
because he was united with Jonathan through birth. The reason the Father
shows kindness and grace to us is because we are united with Jesus through
faith.
Throughout Ephesians we
read the many things that God has done for us. He adopted us. He
loved us and chose us. He purchased our freedom. He forgave us our
sins and showered kindness on us. He has given us an inheritance.
He identified you as His own. He raised us from the dead and seated
us with him in the heavenly realms. He brought good news to us. God
did this and God did that. He did this, and this, and this. And He
did this and that. Ephesians is full of what God did. And these are
things that He did before we could do anything to earn His favor. Let me
ask you this. Before you were born were you able to do anything to make
God love you? In Ephesians 1:4 it says, “Even before he made the world,
God loved us…” And let me ask you this. Before you were born was
there anything you did that could make God love you less? Of course not!
You can’t do anything to make God love you and you can’t do anything to
make God not love you. Before you were born you weren’t able to sin,
therefore, you couldn’t do anything that would make God turn away from you.
Before you were born you weren’t able to do good things like help people,
or go to church, or pray, or comfort South Carolina fans for their loss against
Clemson. God loved us with unconditional love...before we were
born...from eternity past. This should free us from a performance mindset
towards God.
So, what is God’s grace
and what does God’s grace do? In the Old and New Testaments the word
“grace” is used to convey the following ideas (These definitions come from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
and Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old
Testament):
1. “The verb ḥānan depicts a heartfelt response by someone
who has something to give to one who has a need.” (TWOT)
2. “an action from a superior to an inferior who has no real claim
for gracious treatment.” (TWOT)
3. the giving of children (Gen. 33:5) and prosperity (Gen.33:11)
4. to give favor
5. “being merciful to the needy and repentant” (DBLSD)
6. charis = “gift” (DBLSD)
7. the generosity of God: “And God is able to make all grace
abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need,
you will abound in every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:8)
8. it is the strength that God gives for people to do His will:
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without
effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God
that was with me.” (1 Cor. 15:10)
9. His grace also restores us, makes us strong, firm and
steadfast: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in
Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and
make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:10)
10. His grace provides encouragement and hope: “May our Lord Jesus
Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us
eternal encouragement and good hope…” (2 Thess. 2:16)
"There is still a son of Jonathan; he is
crippled in both feet."—1 Samuel 9:3
In John chapter nine we
see a man who is blind from birth. As he became a man his parents,
apparently, couldn’t take care of him. So he became a beggar. That
could have been the future for Mephibosheth. But we don’t know that for
certain.
He may have faced a life
of being cared for by someone else. We don’t know how badly crippled he
was in his feet. Apparently, he could use his hands, his mind, his mouth,
etc. But he wouldn’t be able to live a normal life. Maybe he felt
like a burden. Maybe he didn’t have hope. We don’t know what he was
thinking but these are some of the emotions and challenges people face when
they have some type of disability. He was in a somewhat helpless state.
And he was not in a position of power or ability to offer anything to
King David.
"Where is he?" the king asked.
Ziba answered, "He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo
Debar."—1 Samuel 9:4
“Mephibosheth is a
picture of an unconverted soul living in a barren land (Lo Debar may mean no
pasture ) and sold under sin (Machir means sold—v. 4). He was an outcast from
the fallen house of Saul. He was unable to come to the king to beg for mercy,
being lame in both his feet. But the gracious sovereign sought him out in order
to bless him. Once found, Mephibosheth was given great riches and a place of
fellowship at the king’s table. The parallels to salvation are obvious. Like
Mephibosheth, we were helpless (unable to come to God); our condition was
hopeless (being part of a fallen race). But by grace we became objects of
divine favor. We have been elevated to a place in the family of God and made
joint-heirs with Christ.” --(excerpt taken from Believer’s Bible Commentary by McDonald)
“So King
David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.”—1 Samuel
9:5
Since there is “no one
who seeks God” then how is someone supposed to be close to God? In His
grace, God draws us to himself. In a sense, He sends the Holy Spirit to
our house to retrieve us. This is an act of the grace of God. Jesus
said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” (John
6:44a).
“When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of
Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said,
‘Mephibosheth!’ ‘Your servant,’ he replied.”—1 Samuel 9:6
David says
Mephibosheth’s name with excitement. The crippled man is not a burden to
him. He’s excited to see him. He enjoyed being gracious to him.
In Isaiah 30:18 it says that God “longs to be gracious to you…”
In Luke 15 we see a
similar thing happening to the prodigal son when he returned to his father
after wasting his inheritance:
“So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his
father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw
his arms around him and kissed him.
‘The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
‘But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick!
Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on
his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and
celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is
found.’ So they began to celebrate.”—Luke 15:20-24
The Father didn’t just
show forgiveness and mercy. He threw a party for his son. That’s
grace.
"’Don’t be afraid,’
David said to him, ‘for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your
father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your
grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.’
Mephibosheth bowed down
and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?’
Then the king summoned
Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, ‘I have given your master’s grandson
everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your
servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your
master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your
master, will always eat at my table.’ (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty
servants.)
Then Ziba said to the
king, ‘Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to
do.’ So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.
Mephibosheth had a young
son named Mica, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of
Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the
king’s table, and he was crippled in both feet.”—1 Samuel 9:7-13
I think Mephibosheth had
every right to be afraid. Oftentimes, when a king summoned a relative of
a former king it would be to kill them. He wouldn’t want the threat of
someone taking over his throne. But we see just the opposite. David
gave Mephibosheth everything that belonged to Saul and gave him a
place at his table. In the same way, we are called “co-heirs” with
Christ: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ…” (Romans 8:17a). The J.B. Phillips translated the
verse this way, “The Spirit himself endorses our inward conviction that we
really are the children of God. Think what that means. If we are his children
we share his treasures, and all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of
us as well!” This is God’s generosity....going above and beyond anything
we could imagine.
When someone becomes a
Christian, he or she becomes a child of God. And everything that the
Father gave Jesus is given to us as well. Pretty crazy! Well, it’s
not crazy...it’s grace. God gives good things to those who don’t deserve
it. David didn’t “put up” with Mephibosheth’s brokenness. He
invited him to be a part of his family, to eat at his table and to eat the same
food that he would eat. Jesus says something similar in Luke 22:29-30:
“And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my
Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my
kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Most people know that
they’ve sinned against God and they feel like they’re doomed forever...like God
will never forgive them. But what if people knew that God not only wanted
to forgive them but He wanted to give them the best of what He has?
I think this one verse demonstrates
grace: “you will always sit at my table.” You could say that Mephibosheth
deserved to have all the things that belonged to his grandfather Saul and his
father Jonathan. It belonged to his family. So, when David gave
Mephibosheth all that belonged to his grandfather and father it wasn’t
necessarily a gift. But David didn’t have to let him eat at his own table
with him as one of his own sons. That was elaborate. That was
grace.
As I thought about
God’s grace I thought about a scene from the movie Les Miserables. It’s a not a perfect example of what God’s
grace is like but it does give a glimpse of it. The scene shows the bishop
giving a type of “grace” to Valjean, who stole silver from the church and was
captured. Rather than punishing Valjean,
the bishop tells the authorities that he had given the silver to Valjean, and
that, in fact Valjean had forgotten part of the gift (which the bishop
proceeded to hand the thief).
When Jesus would tell
parables sometimes he would tell parables to show us what God is like and
sometimes He would tell parables to show us what God is not like. In this
story, the bishop lies about Valjean leaving early. He said that he did
indeed give Valjean the silverware when he actually did not. Obviously,
God would never lie so this is one way that the bishop is not like God.
It would not be just for God to send away a sinner an innocent man if a
penalty wasn’t paid for his crime. God is not a liar and God is not
unjust.
But we do see a great
example of what God’s grace is like through this story. Not only does the
bishop forgive Valjean for his crime but he gives the best of what he has to
him as well. He says to him, “Would you leave the best behind?” It
doesn’t seem fair. Valjean should have been punished to full extent of
the law. In a gracious act, the bishop surprises everyone at his gift.
How many of us feel like
God just puts up with us? Past sins, roller coaster emotions, current
struggles are a few things that will make us doubt the grace of God. But
He doesn’t hold back and doesn’t give us second best: “For the LORD God is a
sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good
thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” (Psalm
84:11) My friend, “Would you leave the best behind?”
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