Kindness of a Stranger

 “Kindness to Strangers”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Aug 9, 2015

Text: 2 Samuel 9 // Series: Divided Kingdom

Welcome to summer at Jericho Ridge.  It’s always fun – Mike Ryder & Ruth Ellen and I are excited to teach through the 10^th book of the Bible, 2 Samuel in a series called Divided Kingdom in our family inclusive format. 

At the start of July (which seems like a long time ago) we began the book in chapter 1 where we learned about the death of Saul, the very first King of ancient Israel, and his son Jonathan who was best friends with David.  David, you might remember is the shepherd boy who became king and much of the book of 2 Samuel focuses on his life and his character.  But with the focus squarely on David, one thing we didn’t explore was what happened to Saul’s family after his death.

In 2 Samuel 4:4, we learn that when news of the death of Saul and Jonathan reaches the royal residence, complete panic breaks out.  People begin to run for their lives, believing perhaps that David as the new king will come swooping in and get rid of all of them as would have been the custom in that day.  One particular nurse scoops up Jonathan’s young 5-year old son whose name was Mephibosheth.  But as the nurse is scrambling to get away, she drops Mephibosheth. And we learn that as a result of this unfortunate accident, he becomes lame in both feet. 

Now in that day and time, if you had a physical disability of some kind, you were considered the lowest of the low in their society.  You couldn’t help on the farm or in the family business.  You were a net drain on resources and oftentimes you were disowned - simply kicked out of the family and left to fend for yourself.  People often despised and looked down on you and life was very, very lonely.  Simply because of a physical characteristic.    

To help us illustrate this, do you guys remember the game Guess Who?  This is a pretty simple guessing game where you choose a mystery person and then others begin to ask yes or no questions to eliminate possibilities until you get down to only a few people.  Then you guess who.  Since it would be rude for me to only get one volunteer up here and spend a few minutes playing against them, we are going to play this game live and all of you are going to be characters.  Let’s split the room in half right down the middle here.  Now, I have already pre-selected one person in each section and pre-appointed them as the mystery person.  They may have a defining physical characteristic but you will have to work together to guess.  So you all need to stand up.  You will also need to work together with others in your team to come up with yes or no questions and I will answer them based on the person who is it.  For example, you might say “does your person have red hair?” and then if I say yes, then everyone who has red hair would stay standing and everyone else would sit down.  Make sense?  Do you remember this game?  OK, so everyone up.  We’ll flip a coin to see who asks the first question.  [coin toss + play game = 4 min]. 

That was innocent and perhaps too easy, wasn’t it?  But think of how Mephibosheth felt his whole growing up life as people would ask him questions to try and guess who he was and what his history was: “are you a member of a former royal family?” Strike 1. “Is that family Saul’s family?” Strike 2. “Are you physically disabled in any way?”  Strike 3…  Mephibosheth must have felt like he was on the out his entire life. 

But somehow he manages to scurry off and make a life on the far side of the Jordan River and grow up on the down low.  Out of sight, out of mind…  perhaps he is hoping, praying, thinking that the world might move on and forget about little old him.  No one singling him out.  Asking too many questions about his identity or his back story. 

And that strategy seems to work out OK for him for quite some time.  Later on in 2 Samuel 4 we read that his uncle, Isbosheth, who becomes king of the northern part of Israel following Saul’s death, is brutally attacked and killed in his sleep.  Then in chapter 5, we see David has become king over all of Israel…  Mephibosheth might have gotten nervous at this point.  Maybe he lay up at night sometimes thinking “What if David starts inquiring about any living descendants of the former king?  I mean, he’s king of whole nation now… he has the reach to find me and maybe get rid of me!”  But years pass and nothing happens.  The game of guess who seems to be over. 

Perhaps part of this is because we’ve learned in our summer series that David is occupied with other projects.  Mike Ryder took us through the process two weeks ago of how David was working to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. Then last weekend, Pastor Jeff Renaud explored David’s desire to build a temple for God and how God said NO but allowed David to prep the materials for his son to do so.  The audio for both of those is posted on our website and our itunes podcast now so feel free to catch up while you are driving or gardening.  And now this morning, I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles or on your devices to 2 Samuel 9. 

David is now done with his summer projects, he sits back at the start of Chapter 9 and “One day David asked, “Is anyone in Saul’s family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”…  So he asks around, finds someone who used to work for Saul named Ziba.  David calls him in and The king then asked [Ziba], “Is anyone still alive from Saul’s family? If so, I want to show God’s kindness to them.”

So he has Ziba do some digging and he discovers that Mephobosheth, Saul’s grandson is alive and well and living on the far side of the Jordan River.  So David sends for him.  Can you imagine that fateful day from Mephibosheth’s perspective?  The [knock] on his door that’s he’s been dreading for years.  The fearful phrase: “The king wants to see you”.  The nervously long journey to Jerusalem, not knowing what awaits him.  He’s been found out.  The giant game of Guess Who is over.  David knows his name and his location but what Mephibosheth doesn’t know is what David wants with him.  For all he knows, David wants to serve justice on the house of Saul for all of the horrible things Saul did to David.      

But when Mephibosheth arrives, verse 5 says he bows low to the ground in deep respect.  “I am your servant” he says to David.  But Mephibosheth finds that David acts completely the opposite to what he might have expected – Instead of shunning him for his disability, instead of killing him for being a member of Saul’s family, David says “don’t be afraid.  I intend to show kindness to you”.    

Pause for a minute and think about the amazing picture of mercy and grace that is embedded in this scene.  Here’s David, who has the authority the resources and the means necessary to wipe out any former remnants of Saul’s family who are still living and perhaps scheming or plotting to get back the throne that belonged to their grandfather.  But instead of saying “find them and kill them” David says.  I want to show them kindness.  God’s kindness.  Mephibosheth doesn’t deserve anything but he is shown mercy and grace by David.    

David not only welcomes Mephibosheth but in 9:7 he says “““Don’t be afraid!” David said. “I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan. I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather Saul…””  This is not a small chunk of land because David tells Ziba to take care of this and Ziba has 15 sons and 20 servants so this is not a compact residential lot we’re talking about – this will take 25 families to look after all of this land.  David isn’t just merciful and grace, he is full of generosity.  One of our core values here at Jericho Ridge is generous living.  And sometimes we are tempted think of this strictly in financial terms.  And certainly David was making a generous financial move here.  But the way we say this is that “Generosity touches all aspects of our lives: our friendships, our service, our time, our gifts and abilities, and our material resources”   

The way that David expresses this generosity is that h invites Mephibosheth not just for a visit, not just to give him his land back, but he invites him into permanent relationship with the king.  David invites Mephibosheth to eat at the King’s table!  And not just Mephibosheth but also his son Mica! 

“And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly at David’s table, like one of the king’s own sons...

And Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king’s table.”   

In one day, one word of kindness from a stranger, Mephibosheth’s whole live changes.  He goes from being a person who is crippled and in hiding to being treated as a child of the king.  He goes from having nothing to having everything.  He goes from being abandoned and left without means to care for himself or his family to being a person who has an inheritance and a family.  And friends, this is a picture for us of how God works.  Not just back then but today.  Right here right now.  He sets a table for us.    

Perhaps you are here today and you’ve never said yes to Jesus.  You’re curious about God but you’ve not taken the step of faith to believe that God loves you, knows everything about you, desires more than anything for you to be part of His family.  Today is your day – God is handing you a plate and giving you an invitation to relationship with Him that begins now and goes on forever.  When we move to worship response, come find a prayer team member and we’ll pray with you and you can take your seat at the table.  This is the most important decision you will ever make. Say yes to God’s kindness and love and His invitation. 

Perhaps you are here today and you’ve said yes to God, but you are living with a nagging sense of guilt and shame.  You come to the table (to Jericho  worship, pray, every now and then you read your Bible) but you think to yourself “if others around this table knew what I am really like, I wouldn’t be permitted here.”  You feel like a bit of an imposter.  Like you don’t belong.  And to you I would say, you’re right.  None of us belong here by virtue of our merit.  Ephesians says it’s not by works of rightness that we have done but according to His mercy he saved us.  You and I are invited to our seats at the table not because we are so great or because of anything we have done or not done, we are invited because the King says come.  I’m sure there were people who gave David a hard time and said “what is that cripple doing at your table?” But the king still invites him.        

The table is a picture for us of how if you choose to let Him, God’s mercy and grace can overcome your history.  Your addictions. Your hurts. Hang ups….  The chair is yours and you are welcome at the table of the king.  You might feel like Mephibosheth who says to David “who is your servant that you show kindness to a dead dog like me?”.  But David’s response models for us God’s response… You are not here because of what you have or have not done.  You are here because of the mercy and grace of the King who loves you and who has invited you.  Today, you may need to spend time in prayer receiving the love and affirmation of the King.  Here’s something to experiment with… one thing I am learning is that my physical posture can be indicative of my heart.  Mephibosheth when he came into David’s presence bowed down out of reverence.  This indicates his acknowledgement that he was not worthy to come on his own merit but only by grace.  Maybe as Ron and the team come and lead us in worship response, you may want to spend time kneeling as a physical expression of your humility and your desire to receive the love of the king.

One last thought and application.  Perhaps you are here and you have been a recipient of God’s mercy in your life.  God has been good to you.  You are, as it were, eating daily at the table of the king.  Perhaps it’s time for you to demonstrate that same mercy and grace to others around you.  Kids, maybe you know of someone in your neighbourhood who doesn’t get invited over for summer play dates.  Someone who is maybe harder to love.  Someone who is excluded for some reason, maybe because of a physical disability of maybe they are just harder to love.  This week, why don’t you take the initiative to invite them over or play with them when you see them at the park.  That would be a tangible, practical way of showing God’s love to someone else.  Invite them to the table 

As a church, there are some corporate ways this is happening right now.  As we speak, Lindsey & Tyler Schacter with little Theo are working in India right now at a home for girls and women called Mutkie Mission.  Mutkie means hope and liberation.  They are there for this whole month so perhaps during worship response, you want to come up and pray for them. 

Another response option is practical and calendar driven.  This summer we’ve been serving at the House of Hope in South Langley which is a place for women recovering from additions.  We serve alongside of them.  Eating at the same table.  A practical way you can show God’s love to someone would be to come and serve on Saturday, Aug 22 with Jodi and the team. Get out your phone and type a draft e-mail while we sing saying “I’m in”.       

Receive your benediction.

Dear friends, the Spirit of God gives life to the world! Life that never ends!

At the King’s table, Christ feeds the world! Plenty for all, enough for today! Come to the table of justice and joy! No one will be turned away! No neighbor in need will go wanting! Let praise go up to God our Life! From every creature on God’s good earth!”