Mephibosheth
Open Your Bible
2 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 9:1-13, 2 Samuel 19:14-30, Luke 14:12-14
BY Erin Davis
We all walk with a limp. Sin has twisted our hearts. It’s warped our lives. Humanity is handicapped by our failed attempts at holiness. I see us in the twisted feet and pitiful heart of Mephibosheth. As he grovels before King David and asks, “What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?” (2 Samuel 9:8), I hear an echo of David’s own words in Psalm 8:4: “What is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him?”
Why would a perfect God love one as broken as I am? I am surely damaged goods. Yet, He does not cast me aside.
The story of Mephibosheth is a shadow of the sweetness of the Lord. Mephibosheth had a heritage of rebellion. His grandfather Saul ran from the law of the Lord in more ways than I have the keystrokes to recount, before dying in shame surrounded by his enemies. Disgrace might have seemed a fitting end to Mephibosheth’s story. Yet, he received grace instead. Plucked from the mire, he was given a seat at the king’s table. It’s a story that should ring some bells. Though we deserve darkness, we are welcome to pull up a chair to the table of the King of kings.
“Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory,
because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has prepared herself.”
– Revelation 19:7
Crippled by the sins of his ancestors, and surely humbled by his own, Mephibosheth was the recipient of the king’s extravagant kindness. Instead of the poster child for brokenness, he became the poster child for grace.
Fast forward to the book of Acts. The world is being transformed in the wake of the gospel’s tide, when Peter and John encounter another broken man. Lame since birth, he lies daily at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, begging for scraps of mercy. Yet, he receives so much more. Peter says to him: “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” (Acts 3:6).
And he does.
He jumps up.
He starts to walk.
He enters the temple.
He is “walking, leaping, and praising God” (vv.8–9).
The people recognize him.
They are filled with awe.
They are astonished at what had happened to the beggar before the Beautiful Gate (v.10).
From outcast to insider…
From broken to made whole…
From lame to leaping…
This is our story. This is our song. May the world be filled with wonder before our great God.
22 thoughts on "Mephibosheth"
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I love that we can all relate to Mephibosheth. We have all been wounded and we all have scars. Some people’s scars are just more noticeable than others. But Jesus still calls us close to home and welcomes us to his table.
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Who am I that the Lord should care about me at all? Completely imperfect, full of sin, and undeserving of any blessings. Yet God left the 99 to come for me. He continually sought me out until I was found. His grace and mercy overwhelm me!
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One of my favorite stories! What depiction of God’s grace! What hospitality!
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WOW. Talk about convicting. David didn’t have to extend kindness or generosity towards this man, and yet he did. Sometimes it’s so easy to justify withholding love/mercy/forgiveness, especially from those who have cut us deeply. But, this story is a reminder of how God gives us so much, as undeserving as we may be. My job is to follow suit.
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