Can You Lead With Compassion?
2 Samuel 9
10/06/2024
Charlie Russell – Sarasota Campus Outline
INTRODUCTION:
Sometimes showing compassion is easy and obvious. Sometimes showing compassion is hard, complicated, or just too inconvenient.
For you personally, when is it easy to show compassion, and when it is it difficult or complicated?
David had a lot of complicated feelings about compassion when it came to Saul and his family. David loved Saul, he had tremendous respect for him, and one of his son’s was his best friend.
But now, in 2 Samuel, David is finally crowned king. Back in that time, one of the first things you would do as king is eliminate any rivals. It’s pretty obvious why they would do that – especially when you consider the long and brutal civil war David had just fought through to finally be crowned king.
If you were in David’s shoes, would you remember the promise you made 20 years ago to your best friend who is no longer alive? Would you start rationalizing: “We were kids. This is different. I have done my best. My life is on the line. I have no choice.”
What rationalizations have you caught yourself making that prevent you from showing compassion?
David makes the right choice. He chooses to honor that promise.
2 Samuel 9:1-3:
David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 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.
3 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.”
David is about to meet Mephibosheth, his best friend’s son. David was hiding from Saul when he was born, so he had no idea he was born. This was another thing that Saul took from David.
Can you relate to how David felt about that? Do those feelings make compassion complicated for people in your life?
David also hears now, along with this news, that Mephibosheth is disabled. Several chapters before we read that Mephibosheth’s nurse was running away from the palace the day that Ishboseth was killed, fearing for the life of the child, knowing that he was a royal descendant. In her haste, while on the run for their lives, she stumbled and fell, and broke Mephiboseth’s feet (perhaps even his ankles). Of course, without the same kind of medical care that we have today, Mephibosheth never recovered from that injury, and was disabled for life.
David wonders if Mephiboseth blames him. He wonders if the picture of Mephibosheth’s disability is a symbol of the loss of what should have been for the nation of Israel. Perhaps David also wonders if he really is the one to blame for what happened to him.
How would you feel if you were Mephibosheth?
Thanks to a dramatic experience I had in my life, I can relate to some of what Mephibosheth feels.
Feel free to add any notes here about how you might relate to that story or how it impacts the way you see this story of Mephibosheth.
Now picture Mephibosheth, early 20’s, he’s been hiding in a commoner’s house for 15 years, forgotten about by the nation, unable to care for himself, living in the desert of Lo Debar, which translates to “No pasture.”
Have you ever felt like you were living in the desert of despair, forgotten?
Now he’s summoned by the king, his greatest fear. He assumes he’s being led to the slaughter. He says a tearful goodbye to the Makir’s, and he embarks on a long and painful journey through the desert to the palace, even longer in his condition. Then, finally, he approaches the king.
2 Samuel 9:6-8
When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. – Perhaps bowing was more difficult for his condition, but he showed tremendous respect for David.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.
7 “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.”
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”
David seizes an excellent opportunity to redeem what has happened to Mephibosheth, to David, and to the nation of Israel with this beautiful picture of Mephibosheth essentially being adopted back into royalty. Mephibosheth’s self respect is so broken and he was so sure of his imminent death that it all sounds too good to be true. But this response proves that he had not harbored any bitterness towards David, and clearly had no intentions of betrayal to him in the future.
2 Samuel 9:9-11
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. 10 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.)
11 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 table like one of the king’s sons.
Chuck Swindoll:
“With a little imagination, we can picture a familiar scene in the king’s royal residence. Gold and silver fixtures held the flaming torches that lined the palace walls. Lofty, hand-carved wooden ceilings crowned each spacious room, including the banquet hall where David and his family gathered for their evening meals. In one chair sat tanned, handsome Absalom with his long, raven-black locks of hair. Next to him sat his beautiful sister, Tamar. Across from her sat the young and brilliant Solomon. It’s suppertime, and the call has gone out to all in the family to gather around the table. As David the dad scans the room to make sure all the kids are present, he notices that one is missing.
It isn’t long before everyone can hear a sound they have become accustomed to by now. Clump, scra-a-ape. Clump scra-a-ape echoes from the hallway into the dining room. Clump, scra-a-ape. Clump scra-a-ape. Finally, the young man appears and slowly shuffles to his place. It’s Mephibosheth, of course, seated now at the king’s table alongside the other members of the king’s family. Once seated, the tablecloth of grace covers his feet.”
What a beautiful picture and symbol of redemption and compassion. The scripture tells us that Mephibosheth later had a son, which means that this compassion story changed his life for the better and helped him to believe that he could have a family, and David cared for Mephibosheth’s family. And he always ate at the king’s table.
How can we bring Mephibosheth to our table?
We want to be a church who loves:
- Disabled
- Widows and orphans and homeless
- Our neighbors
- The lost
- Those new to the faith
- Those new to our churchHow we can we make sure Mephibosheth is eating at our table?
Compassion requires:
- Humility and Respect
Mephibosheth had to see himself as unworthy of the throne. David had to see Mephibosheth as an equal. Mephibosheth respected David’s anointing. David respected Mephiboseth’s lineage.After what I’ve been through, I can no longer see the Mephibosheth’s in my life as different. We are not more important than Mephibosheth. We are the 99 and Mephibosheth is the one lost sheep.Have you ever been the pharisee that thought of themselves as more important than Mephibosheth?
- Commitment
David kept his promise to the end of Mephiboseth’s days, and even to his son. Mephiboseth never incited rebellion against him.What commitments can we make so that Mephiboseth is able to join us at the table?
The Bible commands us to show hospitality:
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers.
1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Romans 12:13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
- Love.
David loved Mephiboseth like a son. Mephiboseth loved David like the father that he grew up without. They loved each other like family. We must love Mephiboseth like our own brother or sister, or our own child, or our own parents. Especially our fellow Christians, who we are our blood relatives through the blood of Jesus.What would you do if Mephibosheth was your relative? How would you treat the Mephibosheth’s in your life and in your church differently if they were your relatives?
I remember what it was like to come to church in a wheelchair. I had a hero’s welcome. They cheered for me when I came through the door. They lit up when I came into the room. They even took a moment in the service to point out to every one there that the one they had been praying for had returned.
I wish every disabled person, every Mephiboseth, that came to this church was greeted with the welcome I had. I wish the people who feel like they lost their value would feel as valued as family here. I wish the people who feel unloveable would feel as loved as family here. I wish the people who have lost their family would find their family here. I wish every new person who walked though our doors would feel like they were being welcomed back home.
We must learn to show compassion to the Mephibosheth’s in our life because WE are Mephibosheth. This story paints for us a picture of our heavenly father’s compassion for us.
We have all spent a long time in Lo Debar. All of us have tried to run from our sin and escape in the desert of despair. We’ve all alienated ourselves from God through our sin, and have no hope of surviving the dry desert we find ourselves stuck in through our own strength.
How can you relate personally to Mephibosheth’s time in Lo Debar?
We do not deserve to be in the family of God. We do not scare him. We were born into the family of God’s enemies, we were born into sin. He would have had every right to smite us, and he could have. But instead, he kept his promise, and he chose to love us.
That king invites us to join him at his table at the wedding supper of the lamb, to join his royal family. He invites us to redeem our past, to have a new life, to share in his freedom, his joy, and his peace.
Will you bow to him like Mephiboseth? Will you accept his dinner invitation? Will you change your life and join his royal family? Will you choose to follow in his steps and use your crown for others and not for yourself?
What are some practical ways you can show compassion to your Mephibosheth’s this week?
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