Who Is Your Mephibosheth?

Some wag once quipped, “Ministry would be easy if it weren’t for the people.” I’ve felt that way before, and I’m willing to bet you have too. Some people are difficult, and even the people who aren’t difficult go through hard circumstances that can quickly drain our time and energy. Love costs. If we want to minister to people, we’ll need to respond to near-constant demands.

I often feel my love is like a small box of Valentine’s Day chocolates. I can offer a piece to a limited number of people, then I’m all used up. How can I go on loving sacrificially? What will sustain us so we don’t grow weary in doing the good God sets before us (Gal. 6:9)?

In 2 Samuel 9, we find a story that reminds us of the truths we need to go on loving well.

Undeserved Kindness from the King

When, per God’s promise, David ascends Israel’s throne and establishes his rule against the pretenders, he remembers his beloved friend Jonathan. As Saul’s son, Jonathan should’ve been David’s enemy. But before dying at the hands of the Philistines on the same day as his father, Jonathan loved David and believed God’s promises to him.

Because he received such kindness from Jonathan in his lifetime, David seeks to show the same to Jonathan’s family. He asks his advisers, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Sam. 9:1, NIV). He learns from Ziba, a former servant in Saul’s house, that Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth still lives, though he’s now lame in both feet, having been injured as a child while fleeing an attack (v. 3; 4:4).

When David meets Mephibosheth, he promises to show him “kindness for the sake of [his] father Jonathan” (9:7). Notice Mephibosheth did nothing to deserve David’s kindness, yet David treated him kindly for Jonathan’s sake. Because David loved Jonathan and wants to honor him still, he shows that same love to a member of Jonathan’s family.

This is a beautiful picture of the gospel—and a template for our own gospel-shaped acts of kindness.

Undeserved Kindness from God

Like Mephibosheth, we haven’t done anything to deserve God’s kindness—quite the opposite—yet God delights to treat us kindly for Christ’s sake. He loves us in Christ and honors us because, in Christ, we now belong to his family. As Paul says, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Gal. 3:26). We aren’t children on account of our genes or deeds but solely by grace through faith in him. The Father loves us in the Son.

Consider what this looks like in prayer. The Father hears and answers our prayers not because of who we are but because of him in whose name we ask. Speaking of his impending departure, Jesus told his disciples this would be so: “In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you” (John 16:23). Jesus promises that the Father will give us what we ask in Jesus’s name.

Mephibosheth could make bold requests of David because David loved his father. He could importune the king because the king wanted to honor Jonathan’s memory. That’s undeserved kindness, and we know it on a far greater scale. As Tim Keller said, “The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 a.m. for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.” David loved Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake, and God loves us for Christ’s sake. Love like that will change the fundamental structures of our hearts.

Undeserved Kindness to Others

The story of David’s kindness to Mephibosheth not only reminds us of glorious gospel truths but also portrays how that truth should motivate our love for others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. God’s love for us overflows in love for others. As John makes clear, “This is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10–11). We love because he first loved us.

We rightly see ourselves in Mephibosheth’s shoes: loved not because of who we are but because of who our family is—in our case, because of our older brother Jesus. But we can also see ourselves as David in this story: loving others not because of who they are but because of who their Father is—our mutual adoptive Father.

We have many brothers and sisters, across the globe and across the street, who’ve done nothing to deserve our kindness. Some may have treated us poorly in the past. They may “deserve” our insults, retribution, or shunning. But we delight in showing them kindness for Christ’s sake because they belong to the spiritual house Christ is building.

We bestow honor, meet physical and emotional needs, speak words of life and encouragement, support financially, use our gifts to serve, and love people sacrificially as an extension of our love for Christ and as an expression of gratitude for the love he has shown us.

To Whom Will You Show Kindness?

Who is your Mephibosheth? He may be difficult, or facing difficult circumstances, that will try your patience and exhaust your time and energy. But when you remember what it cost God to love you in Christ, the cost of loving others will be a price you’ll gladly pay.

After all, you’re drawing from your Father’s bank account. Your love isn’t limited like a box of chocolates. Your heart overflows with the Father’s love, so you never cease loving well for Christ’s sake.

Take part in TGC’s Read the Bible initiative, where we’re encouraging Christians and churches to read together through God’s Word in a year.

Brandon Cooper (MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) serves as senior pastor at Cityview Community Church in Elmhurst, Illinois. He is the author of A Word to the Wise: Lessons from Proverbs for Young Adults. Brandon founded Follow After Ministries to equip individuals and churches to make disciples passionately devoted to following Christ. He and his wife, Amy, have five children.