Kindness week4

 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.  When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honour. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead doglike me?” Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)  Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s[a] table like one of the king’s sons. Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.  And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.   2 Samuel 9.1-13

In spite of the abuse David received from King Saul, when David became king of Israel, he asked, ‘Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the Jonathan's sake?’ Yes, there is always somebody to whom we can show kindness. Here, it is Mephibosheth, the disabled son of Jonathan. Jonathan was David's best friend, and David had not forgotten the promise he had made to care for Jonathan's family. (1 Samuel 20.14-15)

David's desire that his own family would be the line of kings had left the house of Saul unwelcome in Israel. Jonathan's son was living in the land of Lo Debar. The name means ‘no pasture,’ indicating that Mephibosheth was living in extremity and need. 

But David welcomes Mephibosheth to the palace. The outcast meets grace. Now he who was handicapped and without human support lives and dines at the king's table. 

Kindness is the great virtue of the Christian life. Kindness is usually so automatic, so basic to our nature as Christians, that those who are kindest among us do not suspect themselves as kind. Watch those who regularly open doors for the elderly, they smile once the act is completed and hurry about their business never having seen the glory of their simple deed. Kindness is so Christ-like that it never stops to celebrate itself. 

Porters, flight attendants and others often represent the sort of kindness which is paid for and professional. But all of us like those people best who, having not been paid for behaving like human beings, behave like human beings just for the joy of it. That sort of kindness is Christ-like. It changes the world. It melts the hearts of gladiators. It lifts the orphans towards the Fatherhood of God. It smiles in frowning assemblies. It says, ‘what can I do to help you?’ and actually hopes it will be given an assignment. Kindness wears the sandals of servants, it has since the first century.