in his relationship with mephibosheth...
david emerges into prominence here as a lover.
his kingly rule was already marked by justice and fairness.
there is, though, anelement without which those qualities aren't complete and that element is love.
the hebrew word chesed, narrowly translated as 'love', is a large word.
no single word in our language is adequate to translate it,
so we revert to the use of adjectives to bring out the distinctive quality and broad reach of this love:
steadfast..loyal...covenantel love.
what we're after is an understanding that retains the affection and desire and intimacy
that commonly go with love,
as we sometimes experience it as parents and children, 'lovers' and friends,
but amalgamated now with the stability, dependability, unswerving commitment,
and steady reliability that we so commonly find wanting in ourselves and others.
chesed is often used in the biblical revelation to designate God's love.
but we humans, who have been created in the image of God,
are also capable of loving this way,
even though we never seem to get very good at it.
chesed is love without regard to shifting circumstances, hormones, emotional states and personal convenience.
this is the kind of love with which 'God so loved the world...'
this is the kind of love to which we aspire when we take marriage vows to love
'in sickness and health, till death do us part'.
all our scriptural witnesses, seconded by an impressive array of outside observers,
agree that venturing and practicing this kind of love is an absolutely necessary
\(even if very, very difficult)
condition of life lived on anything other than a biological level.
this is the kind of love with which david loved mephibosheth that day.
mephibosheth had never, or at least not for a long time, been loved like this.
...when david asks if there's anyone left of saul's family ('the house of saul')
whom he can love in jonathan's name,
he's asking, in effect, 'is there anyone left in the enemy camp whom i can love?
...he's looking for an enemy to love.
...david's first word to mephibosheth is the young man's name.
mephibosheth is recognized as a person.
he isn't a nameless exile.
he isn't a category of victim.
he has an name and david knows it-mephibosheth.
if there was any shame or dishonor associated with this name through the years...
it's wiped clean of ignominy as david addresses him in loyal love.
the name is used seven times in this story of their first meeting,
without a hint of opprobrium or denigration in the usage.
.
..mephibosheth.
a personal name.
we can't love in general.
we can't love by categories.
we can't love by decree or legislation.
we can love only a named person who has a past, present and future. mephibosheth.
the nature of love is clarified in david's words of reassurance:
'do not fear. II samuel 9.7
we come across this phrase frequently in the biblical revelation.
it's frequent for a reason: there's much to fear in life.
we constantly meet up with people who have more power than we have.
how will they use that power, that authority?
will they diminish us, exploit us, use us, get rid of us?
we learn to be cautious, put up defenses.
and then we come before God, a God of power and mystery.
how will he treat us?
will he punish us, destroy us, take away our freedom?
based on our experience, any of that is certainly possible, maybe even probable.
that's why we need so much reassurance: 'relax. it's going to be all right'.
the phrase is often on the lips of angels, the emissaries of God's good news.
it was often on the lips of Jesus,
who regularly brought frightened and bewildered men and women into the very presence of God.
here it's on david's lips.
mephibosheth had every reason to be deathly afraid of david at that moment, as we've seen.
he had no reason to think that david wasn't out to get rid of him,
the last vestige of saul's family,
but then he was disarmed and prepared for love by the gospel words 'fear not'.
david put content into the word love when he turned over to mephibosheth
all the lands of his grandfather saul so that he would have an independent income;
assigned ziba, who had once been servant to saul, to manage the farms and take care of his affairs;
and brought mephibosheth into his household as one of the family.
this is the way love LOOKS, not FEELS-generous, extravagant, uncalculating.
the love that germinated in a covenant became mature in the search for a long lost heir,
the restoration of confiscated lands and daily hospitality
at the royal table.
this love wasn't greeting card sentiment;
it had the substance of the good earth beneath it
and the regularity of three square meals a day to reinforce it.
...this is the characteristic davidic note, the anticipation of gospel.
david first sought out mephibosheth from a position of strength.
he used his strength to love generously, COVENANTALLY.
uncorrupted by power, love flowed unimpeded.
david treated mephibosheth with the love with which God had saved him.
in this...act of love to mephibosheth he's fatigued from battle,
(note: david has had to flee the rebellion instituted by his son absalom
ziba, mephibosheth's servant, plays him false to david..
the rebellion over, david meeting mephibosheth hears as much)
having barely survived the worst rejection and betrayal of his life,
grieving the terrible death of his son,
abandoned by many of his trusted friends.
and now mephibosheth stands before him..
there's been so much treachery in the past few days, so many faithless.
is mephibosheth one more who has betrayed his love?
if david has been betrayed by his own son, why wouldn't mephibosheth,
with a legitimate claim to the throne, also betray him?
it doesn't matter to david.
he doesn't have to know
he takes mephibosheth's story II samuel 19.26-8 at face value
and keeps faith with him.
he persists in his love of mephibosheth.
david in weakness, his kingdom in fragments about him,
is as strong as ever in love.
this is love with covenant steel in it to keep it steady persistent, committed.
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