Listening To Hope

Ice-Breakers:

1. Have you had an experience that left you physically/emotionally/spiritually crippled? Where did it come from?

2. When you are on the losing ‘team’, how do you expect to be treated by the winners? When you win, how do you treat the losers?

3. Poor, crippled Mephibosheth prostrates himself before King David. How did he get up?

Background:

When Saul and Jonathan died in battle, David the outlaw became David the king; and Mephibosheth the prince became Mephibosheth the crippled orphan (2 Samuel 4:4).  But David remembered his covenant with Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:14-17) and found the last of Saul’s family to bless and honor as the son of Jonathan. Mephibosheth was taken out of obscure poverty and given all of Saul’s property and a place at the king’s table (2 Samuel 9:5-13).

Digging Deeper:

1. Consider 2 Samuel 9:5-13 and 1 Samuel 20:14-17. What would a conquering king usually do to the children of the enemy king? Did Mephibosheth have any reason to live in fear for his life after the death of his father? Whose opinion of David did Mephibosheth live by?

Mephibosheth is, in effect, made part of David’s family. What has Mephibosheth done to deserve it? In whose honor is Mephibosheth invited to the king’s table? In whose honor have you been invited to the King’s Table? What have you done to deserve it?

2. Read 2 Samuel 16:1-4 and 19:24-30 Who was telling the truth: Ziba or Mephibosheth? (If you were David, would you have wanted to have to figure it out?) Neither man, it seems, went with David into his exile. Did either deserve the estate they split?

3. The Hebrew term translated ‘lovingkindness’ in 1 Sam 20:14 is hesed, and refers to God’s enduring covenant love toward Israel. What is the ultimate expression of hesed found in Scripture? What is the New Testament term for hesed?  Eph 1:5,6; 2:4-9

4. In what ways are we like Mephibosheth? In what ways is our experience of grace through Christ like the blessings Mephibosheth received from David. (Don’t turn the page until you have listed all you can.)

Conclusion:

Geno finished his sermon with this comparison:

The story of Mephibosheth illustrates God’s grace, His love, in a wonderful, analogous manner.  In the gospel story I am like Mephibosheth:

• I am crippled spiritually, unable to run from God or run toward God
• I am exiled from God’s presence, victimized by the sins of my foreparents, and corrupted in my soul so that I continue in the place of sinning and rebellion
• I am impoverished in my soul, spiritually bankrupt
• I am looking only for death if normal, imperial justice is carried out because I am a child of the enemy king

Like Mephibosheth, we experience undeserving grace.

• In Grace we are brought before the King through the agency of the King’s messengers even though we have been in hiding and rebellion
• In Grace the King calls us by name and tells us we have nothing to fear from Him
• In Grace He exchanges our poverty for His wealth
• In Grace He tells us that our exile from His presence is over forever and we now have a permanent seat at His table
• In Grace He tells us that we are recipients of His love because of a prior commitment to love all who belong to the household of his one and only Son
• And In Grace our access to this amazing love is dependent on an affirmative answer to one question:  Do I belong to Jesus, His son??

Wrap up:

• Have you, like Mephibosheth, prostrated yourself before the King, so He can lift you up and shower the blessings of His grace on you?
• Have you learned to love others like this, showing hesed, grace, covenant love to those who can never help you, but could certainly reject you and hurt you.

Ministry/Outreach:

Think of an unlovely or difficult-to-love person or group of persons in your life-space. Choose to show hesed to this person, these folk. What would that look like?