26 A Place at the King’s Table
A PLACE AT THE KING’S TABLE
Those of us who love God’s Book find people we can identify with in its pages.
Strong, mission-minded believers find a champion in the apostle Paul. Young pastors feel a strong kinship with Timothy—a green pastor with a problem church and a queasy stomach! Single girls swoon over Ruth’s love story. Harried homemakers identify with Martha—but long to be more like her sister. Teens see themselves in the youthful David on his lonely, nighttime vigils. If children don’t picture themselves with the little ones who gathered at Jesus’ feet, they may sympathize with young Samuel, who had to leave his mom and dad to live in the temple.
I don’t know too many stories of people in the Bible with spinal cord injuries. But there is one name I do remember from my Sunday school days—one disabled individual with whom I can identify.
Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan.
Prince Jonathan had died in battle along with his father, King Saul. Before his death, the prince and the fugitive David had been the closest of friends—though by all logic they should have been bitter rivals. When David ascended to the throne after the death of Saul and Jonathan, he wondered how he might honor the memory of his dear friend. So he summoned Saul’s former household servant to the palace.
The king then asked him, “Is anyone left from Saul’s family? If so, I want to fulfill a sacred vow by being kind to him.”
“Yes,” Ziba replied, “Jonathan’s lame son is still alive.”
“Where is he?” the king asked.
“In Lo-debar,” Ziba told him. “At the home of Machir.”
So King David sent for Mephibosheth—Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. Mephibosheth arrived in great fear and greeted the king in deep humility, bowing low before him.
But David said, “Don’t be afraid! I’ve asked you to come so that I can be kind to you because of my vow to your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you shall live here at the palace!”
Mephibosheth fell to the ground before the king. “Should the king show kindness to a dead dog like me?” he exclaimed.
And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly with King David, as though he were one of his own sons.
2 SAMUEL 9:3–8, 11, TLB
It’s no easy thing to be disabled, even in today’s world. But it was immeasurably more difficult in those days. Not only was medical care all but nonexistent, but the disabled person had to endure the ceaseless stab of pity and prejudice. Believe me, nobody cared about accessibility back then! People who were lame or blind were either relegated to back bedrooms or forced to beg on city streets.
This was the kind of future faced by Mephibosheth, whose feet were lame. But all of that changed when King David found the young man and summoned him to his throne. Lame, considered worthless, an embarrassment even in his own eyes, the son of Jonathan was bidden by the king to come and dine.
As a former heir to the throne, Mephibosheth’s expected fate would be banishment at best—and most likely death. And now the new king wanted to dine with him? What had Mephibosheth done to deserve this unprecedented honor?
When the disabled man asked the king the reason for this extraordinary compassion, David explained, “I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father” (9:7).
It was because of David’s great love for Jonathan that Mephibosheth was welcomed into the king’s presence. Disability or no, he was now part of the family and enjoyed all the privileges of a king’s son.
Isn’t that the way God deals with us? We were alienated, crippled by our sin. Our disability was our ignorance and apathy toward the God who had every right to snuff us out in His righteous anger. As Paul put it, “You were spiritually dead through your sins and failures … and obeyed the evil ruler of the spiritual realm … being in fact under the wrath of God by nature, like everyone else” (Ephesians 2:1–2, Phillips).
Like Mephibosheth, the best thing we could have expected from our King was permanent banishment or a swift execution. But no. Because of Jesus, we are invited to become the very sons and daughters of God.
In love he … adopted [us] as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.…
Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called “children of God”—and that is not just what we are called, but what we are.
EPHESIANS 1:4–8, NIV; 1 JOHN 3:1, PHILLIPS
Through Jesus’ provision, we can now draw our chairs up to the King’s table. We are welcomed. In spite of our spiritual disabilities—whatever they are—we are part of a family. There is no reason to fear. The King has called us into His intimate family circle as His own sons and daughters.
Remember that, if today you feel unworthy to come into the King’s presence … if, like Mephibosheth, you sense that somehow you could never fit in.
Come anyway, says the King. No matter what your weakness, handicap, or disability.
Come and dine.
A Step Closer
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.
EPHESIANS 2:19
That I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
PHILIPPIANS 3:8–9
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, infinite grace,
Grace that is greater than all my sin.
The old hymn says it well.
Our God’s undeserved favor toward you and me is great—
in fact, infinite. He has not only invited you to His table
and adopted you into His very household circle,
He has deposited the awesome, unspeakably glorious
righteousness of His own Son into your account!
Praise Him today for His kindness and grace.