Scripture: 2 Samuel 9:1-13
There’s a special word in today’s scripture that’s translated as “kindness”—as in verse 1: “And David said, ‘Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’” In Hebrew this word is hesed. And this sermon is mostly about hesed. And I want to make three points about it: One, we experience the hesed of God through faith in Christ… Two, we experience it for the sake of Christ… And three… the hesed of God has the power to change us.
Years ago, there was a great TV show on NBC called Ed, starring Tom Cavanaugh. Ed is a lawyer who has recently moved back to his hometown—a small town in the midwest—after his career and marriage suddenly fall apart. So the show is all about Ed’s rebuilding his life in his hometown and reconnecting with people he grew up with.
In probably my favorite episode, Ed and his best friend, Mike, learn that a mutual friend and high school classmate has died unexpectedly. As so often happens, both Ed and Mike had lost touch with their friend after graduation, when he moved away, but the friend’s death causes them to reminisce about the fun times they had together… way back when… We learn, for example, that the three of them were in a rock band together in high school. And as they’re reminiscing about it, Ed remembers something: their deceased friend had written a song back then—when they were in, like, the eleventh grade—and he loved this song so much that we see this friend in a flashback making Ed and Mike promise him that if he died first, the band would play this song at his funeral. I think they had their friend on videotape, from back in the ’80s, saying, “You’ve got to promise me you’ll do that, okay?” And Ed makes that promise.
And, doggone it, Ed intends to keep that promise! So he tries to persuade Mike and the other band members to reunite for the funeral and pay tribute to their former bandmate by playing this song that he wrote.
The only problem is, the song is about as embarrassingly bad as any other rock song written by a 16-year-old kid. And the song includes some rated-PG-13 words; it’s completely silly and inappropriate for a funeral. But Ed made a promise to his friend, and he intends to keep his promise—it doesn’t matter how bad the song is!
Something a little like that is happening in today’s scripture. It’s mostly about a promise that David intends to keep.
Also… according to Old Testament scholar John Goldingay, this chapter represents the absolute “high point of David’s story.” It’s majestic. And “majesty,” he says, “comes before a fall. [David’s life is] downhill from now on.” 1 And beginning this week, in our “Journey Through the Bible” reading plan, things go downhill rather quickly—first with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah, and then with David’s son Absalom. But we’ll get there soon enough…
For now, let’s spend time looking at David’s “high point.” Today’s scripture shows David at his best… And whenever King David is at his best, God intends for us to be reminded of Israel’s future, perfect, eternal king, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. And we see David at his best in verse 3: “And the king said, ‘Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?’” The key words: the kindness of God. That word translated as “kindness,” in Hebrew, is hesed. Hesed is a Hebrew word for God’s covenant love. Sally Lloyd-Jones, who wrote a wonderful illustrated children’s Bible I heartily recommend called the Jesus Storybook Bible, defines “hesed” as follows: It is “God’s never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.” 2
David wants to show that kind of love to someone in the “house of Saul”—the family of King Saul—and he wants to do so, verse 1 says, “for Jonathan’s sake.” And what David means is, “for the sake of a promise that he made to Jonathan.” As I said earlier, David intends to keep a promise!
That promise is found back in 1 Samuel 20, verse 15: Jonathan asked David to promise to “treat my family with this faithful love”—there’s the word hesed again—“even when the Lord destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.” 3 And David promised to do so.
Jonathan, you may recall, was David’s dear friend and ally back when Jonathan’s father, King Saul, went insane with jealousy toward David and vowed to kill him. Jonathan risked his life to save David’s life back then.
By helping David, of course, Jonathan was also working against his own self-interest, and the interests of his family. Because by rights, Jonathan, as Saul’s oldest son, would have succeeded his father on the throne. But Jonathan was a righteous man and wanted to please God; he knew that God had chosen and anointed David—not himself—to succeed his father on the throne and become the next king. So Jonathan was committed to making that happen.
But in today’s scripture, Jonathan is long dead… as is his father, King Saul… as is every other member of Saul’s family… except for this disabled man named Mephibosheth—try saying that ten times fast—and his young son Mica.
So David summons Mephibosheth…
And Mephibosheth would have been terrified by this summons. In the ancient world, it was brutally customary for new kings to kill off all potential rivals to the throne—you’ll see this happening with King Jehu, in 2 Kings chapters 10 and 11, who slaughters the remaining heirs of King Ahab’s dynasty. And as long as Mephibosheth and his son are still alive, who knows?
Maybe they’ll gather supporters, gather an army, and try to overthrow David’s kingdom? So maybe David is going to execute them.
That’s surely what Mephibosheth feared would happen when David summoned him. And boy was he in for a surprise! Because far from executing him, David tells him, in verse 7, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan…”
And remember the principle: King David at his best should remind us of Jesus…
And do we ever see Jesus in today’s scripture!
Remember what I said at the top of the sermon about Ed’s resolve to fulfill the promise he made to his deceased friend—even though the the song itself was terrible… even though the song was unworthy of the honor of being played at his friend’s funeral?
Well, David is equally willing to fulfill the promise he made to Jonathan… even if Jonathan’s surviving family members are terrible…and are unworthy of the honor…
After all,on what basis does David show Mephibosheth his kindness… or, in Hebrew, his hesed?
Is it because Mephibosheth is just a stand-up guy?Is it because Mephibosheth, like his father before him, is righteous? Is it because, like David, he is a “man after God’s own heart”?
No, it is not… I mean, Mephibosheth may be all those things—we don’t know—but when David resolves to show him the hesed of God he doesn’t know or care what kind of person Mephibosheth is!
Because please notice this important detail from verse 1: David decides in advance to show hesed to Mephibosheth before he even knows the man’s name. Before he knows literally anything about him. Before he knows whether this member of Saul’s family even exists! Do you see that? “Is there anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness?”
Notice David doesn’t say, “I will show him kindness if…”
“If his resumé is sufficiently impressive… If his list of references checks out… If he makes it through the Zoom interview, and then the in-person interview, and then passes the background screening…
“If he accomplishes all that, then I’ll show him the hesed of God.”
It would hardly be unreasonable for David to want get to know the man first… before he showers all these blessings on him! Right?
After all, this man, Mephibosheth, is about to become immensely wealthy. He’s about to enjoy a lifetime of feasting on the most sumptuous meals, prepared by the world’s greatest chefs, served in the world’s finest palace dining rooms. He’s about to enjoy a lifetime of having servants at his beck and call. And look at verse 11: Even though the royal family of which he was part was overthrown, Mephibosheth is about to become a prince again… He’s about to be adopted into King David’s royal family, and membership in that family has lifelong privileges.
So… Shouldn’t we at least vet him first? To prove that he’s worthy of so many blessings?
After all, even as I speak to you, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank is courting the former Patriots coach Bill Belichick to be the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons… Did you know, by the way, that the Falcons hold a very dubious distinction in professional sports: Since the Texas Rangers finally won a World Series last year—after only 62 years of trying—the Atlanta Falcons have now become the oldest major pro sports franchise without a championship—that’s counting the four major pro sports: football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. The Falcons are number one in this category, unfortunately. They have lasted 58 years without a championship.
And it’s not for lack of trying. As recently as 2017—as most of us will recall—we lost a Super Bowl in the most heartbreaking manner possible… the most sickening way possible. I mean, having done so much for three quarters to win the Super Bowl, we had to work hard to lose it; we had to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Yet somehow we managed to do it… against a team that was coached by—yes—the one and only Bill Belichick.
That victory over the Falcons accounted for Belichick’s fifth of six Super Bowl victories as head coach. The most a coach has ever won. And he has two more Super Bowl wins as the defensive coordinator with the New York Giants. That’s eight Super Bowl rings. The man has so many rings he literally can no longer turn door knobs to open doors!
Like it or not, he is the Nick Saban of the NFL. He is the best. There’s very little argument about it. With all that in mind, one might think that we Falcons fans would jump at the opportunity to hire Bill Belichick to be our next head coach. We could do worse… and for 58 years of the team’s existence, we mostly have done much worse.
And yet… when news leaked out that Belichick was our number one candidate for the job, the pushback on Twitter and social media and sports talk radio… oh my goodness! “He never won without Tom Brady”—as if football is no longer a team sport. “He hasn’t won a Super Bowl in, gosh, four years. What a loser!”…
[pretend that you’re weighing on a scale] Four years… fifty-eight years… Four… fifty-eight…
Talk about “what have you done for me lately”! Somehow even the greatest coach in the history of the sport isn’t good enough anymore for one of the worst franchises in the history of professional sports!
I say all that to make this simple point: We hold other people to incredibly high standards when it comes to judging their performance… their worthiness… their value.
So can we just take a moment to be amazed, or even shocked, or maybe even bothered,by God’s amazing grace. I hope we’re amazed by it, but please appreciate that what David offers to Mephibosheth completely contradicts our world’s values.
Because in 2 Samuel chapter 9, we have one of the Bible’s most beautiful portraits of God’s grace anywhere!
Mephibosheth simply doesn’t earn what David gives him… at all. It’s like he won the biggest lottery of all time… and he didn’t even have to buy a ticket! It’s like he’s won eights Super Bowl rings, and he didn’t have to coach a single play.
That’s what this chapter is describing! The hesed of God is all about this amazing grace…
And once King David decides to show this descendant of King Saul God’s hesed, simply nothing else matters… There are no conditions! No performance requirements! No resumé checks! No background screenings! No nothing! There is only David’s certain promise to show this man his love and grace and favor!
That’s a promise David is going to keep!
And that’s a promise that God is going to keep for those of us who’ve become part of God’s family through faith in his Son Jesus. It doesn’t depend on anything that we’ve done in the past. And it won’t depend on anything we can do in the future… Notice David doesn’t say, “I’m going to show Mephibosheth the hesed of God, but I’m going to do it on a probationary basis first. Yes, I’ve given him this hesed without respect to his performance, but before he becomes a permanent member of the family, well… I’ll make sure that he’s carrying his weight first.” David doesn’t do that. He doesn’t say, “I’m going to give Mephibosheth half his land now, and the other half ten years from now… after he proves himself worthy… I’m going to make him sit at kids’ table for a few years before I decide to set a place for him at the grownups’ table.”
No, he gives him everything up front, without condition.
Of course, I suppose even Mephibosheth could say, “You know what, David, I don’t want to live in this palace anymore. I don’t want to be treated like your son. I don’t want to be part of your family anymore.” Just like it’s possible that we Christians can backslide, that we can refuse to confess and repent of present-day sins as we become award of them, refuse to trust in Christ any longer for our salvation… That can happen… But I’m not planning on doing that, are you?
No… In Jesus Christ, God has given us his hesed… He’s given us his “never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”
And that’s Point Number One: We experience God’s hesed through faith in Christ.
Point Number Two: We experience hesed for the sake of Christ…
As I say, our ability to receive God’s hesed doesn’t depend on us, on who we are, or on what we do. But it does depend on someone. And we see this even in today’s scripture! Twice in this passage David says that this hesed of God that he’s giving Mephibosheth is given… why? “For the sake of Jonathan.”
It was on the basis of Jonathan’s love and faithfulness that David shows his love and faithfulness, the hesed of God, to Mephibosheth.
And of course, this should ring a bell with us Christians, too. Our standing before God depends solely on what Christ has done for us: Only Christ could live the life of perfect obedience to the Father that we are unable to live, and give us his righteousness for doing so; and only Christ could take our sins upon himself and die the God-forsaken death that we deserved to die. So when our Father looks upon us now, he doesn’t see our sin; he sees only the perfect righteousness of his Son.
And if you’re a Christian, just think about what this means: God’s not mad at you. He’s not disappointed in you. He’s not holding a grudge against you. In fact, he’s not “keeping score” at all… He’s not making a list and checking it twice. He’s not waiting to see how you measure up, he’s not waiting to see how righteous you are—or how righteous you will be in the future. Nothing you’ve done—no sin you’ve committed—has caused God to second-guess his decision to adopt you into his family as his beloved child.
Because God has made a promise to you for the sake of what his Son Jesus did through his faithful life, his atoning death on the cross, and his resurrection, and guess what? He intends to keep that promise! “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 4
If you’re a Christian, you are now his son or his daughter… you’re part of the family. There’s nothing God won’t do for you if it’s in your best interest… There’s nothing he won’t give you… if you need it and it’s good for you… And like any loving father, he enjoys giving us good gifts when we ask him. And like a good father, he disciplines us—and, yes, the Bible says that can be painful—but unlike us sinful human parents we can be sure that God never disciplines us out of anger; he only does it because it’s good for us… because we need to learn and change and grow… because we need to overcome ongoing sin in our lives that we may trust in him more… and experience more joy, more peace, more contentment… because God loves us with perfect love… he loves us with hesed… He loves us with this “never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”
Think of how that should affect the way we pray! God doesn’t decide to answer our prayers based on whether or not we “measure up,” whether or not we’ve been “good enough,” whether or not we’re “righteous.” Even though we’re a mess—with all our sins and failures and foolish behavior—the Bible says, “Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” 5
We can be bold when we approach the throne of grace because through Christ God has given us his hesed!
And here’s my third point: The hesed of God has the power to change us.
Jesus himself makes this point in Luke chapter 7…
There, Jesus is dining in the home of a Pharisee named Simon. A recently converted former prostitute enters the room and begins anointing Jesus’ feet with both perfume and her grateful tears of joy. And Simon can’t stand that a supposedly righteous man like Jesus is allowing this well-known sinful woman to do this! “If this man were a prophet,” he thinks, “he would know what kind of woman she was, and he wouldn’t let her touch his feet!”
But, of course, Jesus did know the kind of woman she was.
Simon the Pharisee’s problem was, he didn’t know what kind of man that he was!
He didn’t recognize the enormity of his own sins… Sure, maybe he didn’t struggle with the same sins as this woman. Maybe his sins were more invisible to other people, more respectable in other people’s eyes—maybe he kept them better hidden. But he still had sin that needed forgiveness. Unlike this woman, however, he didn’t recognize his need… he didn’t recognize the extent to which he stood in need of God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. He didn’t see how helpless he was to save himself.
And as a result, he also didn’t love nearly as much… He didn’t love nearly as well… as this former prostitute.
Jesus tells him, in Luke 7:47, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
“A person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” And a person who is forgiven much—who knows and appreciates and treasures what God has done for them through Christ to give them forgiveness and grace—to give them the hesed of God—that person shows a lot of love… Just as this former prostitute now shows a lot of love.
I try to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ every week, in every sermon, through every scripture. Because Jesus and the gospel are found on every page of the Bible. And some of y’all might think, “Why do you do that, Pastor Brent. We don’t need to hear the gospel again. We’ve been following Jesus for decades. The gospel is for lost people, not for us Christians, right?”
No, dear friends: Jesus says that the very springboard, the very foundation, the very fountainhead, of our ability to fulfill the Great Commandment to love God and love neighbor, to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples and be witnesses for Christ, to genuinely love others the way Jesus commands us to love, is gratitude to God for what God has done for us and given us—and what he continues to do for us and continue to give us—through his Son Jesus Christ.
And what has he given us? And what is he giving us right now? His hesed. His “never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”
Dear Lord Jesus, may we experience more and more of this love. Let it change us through the power of the Holy Spirit and for the sake of your Son Jesus. Amen.
Good point that God gives us his love without our meriting it and for the sake of Christ. As you note, however. it is possible to “turn our back” on God and “lose” his favor (to the extent, according to Methodism, of eternally losing one’s salvation). In fact, even in the case of Mephibosheth, David is willing to cut him off when his servant slanders him that he was planning to rebel. This leaves the question in my mind–is this an “all or nothing” circumstance? Totally loved to totally hated without any variation in between based on what we do or don’t do? My own view, presently, is that “God is love” means that everything God does is a manifestation of what love does. Perfect love is extended to all (“For God so loved the world”), but how we respond to that determines the extent to which we keep it (“that whosoever believeth in him”). I don’t personally believe in “all or nothing.” I don’t believe, for example, that a wife whose husband beats her and the kids, gets drunk every night, and won’t keep a job is supposed to feel the “same way” towards him that a wife would feel towards a husband who showers love on her on multiple occasions, works hard, etc. And I think our circumstance as relates to God and God to us is like that. We “have available” to us all of God’s love, but how we respond to that love does make a difference in how God feels towards us, as in the husband/wife illustration I just gave.