Unexpected Kindness

Have you ever found it difficult to accept kindness? I mean really, when someone is nice to you and you are not expecting it, how easy is it for you to handle? Do you just relish in it and accept it willingly, or are you guarded and fearful. Maybe you even refuse the kindness, believing it to be a mistake or worse, believing there are ulterior motives. I’m sure we have all seen it; someone pretends to befriend us, just so that they can use us to gain something for themselves. We have been trained by our experience to question someone’s kindness because we realize that people are not kind by nature. Because kindness is a selfless act and people are by nature selfish. Oh some of you may question that assertion, but I believe that apart from Jesus Christ, there has never been a person on this earth who is completely selfless.

Kindness is not a natural human trait, it is a often a learned behavior. However, in the case of Christians, it is a spiritual trait that comes as part of the fruit of the spirit. Therefore for Christians, for those filled with the Spirit, kindness is the normal way of treating people. Right? That is how we treat everyone, with kindness as the Spirit has taught us to do. Yet, we still have difficulty in trusting other people’s kindness.

Imagine someone comes up to you at your work place and says I would like to give you a new house, completely paid for, just to be nice. Or imagine someone who never met says to you, I would like you to have my new car. Would you take it? Would you trust them? You would probably say, “What’s the catch?” or What do I have to do?” Or “Am I on TV?” There is probably no way you would believe it to be true, and almost no way that it would happen with no strings attached.

Let me give you a small example of this. I know a youth group that decided they were going to live out this kindness principle, asking and receiving nothing in return. They decided they were going to wash car windows while they people were in the supermarket. They didn’t ask for donations, they didn’t even tell people who had done it. They weren’t looking to proselytize or evangelize, they were simply looking to be nice. This worked for about an hour. After an hour, the manager of the supermarket came out and asked them to leave. He said they weren’t allowed to be nice to people without asking them. Apparently, people had complained about having their windows cleaned for no apparent reason. They believed there must be something fishy going on.

So as difficult as it is to show kindness to strangers and have them accept it, imagine trying to show kindness to someone who views you as the enemy. Imagine trying to show kindness to someone who blames you for the death of their father, and grandfather: someone who blames you for all the ills that have ever happened in their life. Imagine trying to show kindness in that situation and having it accepted. Although this sounds like I may be talking about the attempts of Americans to show kindness to Muslim extremists, or for one political party to show kindness to the other, in fact I am talking about David showing kindness to Mephibosheth.

Now the first time we heard about Mephibosheth was in Chapter 4 when Saul’s kingdom came to a close when Ishbosheth was murdered. You remember the how David’s men had fought with Saul’s men and then Saul’s men murdered their king in an effort to win favor with David. Mephibosheth was the heir apparent to Saul’s kingdom. He was the grandson of Saul, and he knew that David had been Saul’s nemesis, at least as much as a five year old could know. And apparently, it wasn’t until the kingdom was in turmoil, when Mephibosheth became lame as his nurse tried to take him to safety and then David becomes the new king. The Scripture never really tells us what Mephibosheth thought about David, but it does not seem a far stretch for him to despise David and blame him for all of his woes. Imagine his surprise then, when David decides to be kind to him. Let’s look at this in 2 Samuel 9

2 Samuel 9:1-13
David asked, "Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"

Now remember, David had just recently been setting up his new kingdom and his new Capital city. He was still in the process of getting things in order and he had just about finished fighting all the enemies. Now, he is ready to take care of some domestic business. He had a covenant with Jonathon, Saul’s son, for they were best friends, and although Saul hated David, Jonathon never did. David and Jonathan promised to be friends and to show love to each others descendants back when Jonathan warned David to flee from Saul. And David was going to be a man of his word.
[2] Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" And he said, "At your service!" [3] The king said, "Is there anyone remaining of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?"

Notice how David phrases this. He is not simply showing his kindness, but he desires to show God’s kindness. He does not want any praise or recognition for this, he simply desires to show kindness on behalf of God. A Spiritual Kind of Kindness.
Ziba said to the king, "There remains a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet." [4] The king said to him, "Where is he?" Ziba said to the king, "He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar." [5] Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.
David finds out that there is someone, so he sends for him.

[6] Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, "Mephibosheth!" He answered, "I am your servant." [7] David said to him, "Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always."

Mephibosheth comes in and bows before David, and David tries to assure him that he is going to be treated well. He promises all the land that belonged to Saul would be restored to him and he would always have a place at the kings table.

So how did Mephibosheth respond? Was he overjoyed? Was he relieved? Was he vindicated? No. He didn’t believe it. Instead of getting up off his face, he stayed, face to the ground, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for the catch.
[8] He did obeisance and said, "What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?"

Who knows for sure what he was thinking. He may have thought he was going to David to be killed. He was after all, the last of the line of the former king. He didn’t understand what David was doing or why. Once David told him the good news, he still needed an explanation. He still needed to understand why. But David never gives him an explanation. He simply tells Ziba that he is responsible for Saul’s land and making sure the Mephibosheth’s property is taken care of, but Mephibosheth will be eating at the kings table from now on.

That is a story of kindness in a situation that it almost seemed too late to be kind. Jonathan and all of Saul’s family was gone. No one would hold David to his commitment. Mephisheth certainly didn’t expect kindness from David. Yet David had to keep his commitment to Jonathan, because it was really an oath with God. And Mephibosheth was the beneficiary.

Now as I mentioned earlier, this was a special kind of kindness. This was the kindness of God. What did Mephibosheth do to deserve it? Nothing. Did he work for it, or earn it? No. As a matter of fact he couldn’t have worked for it, because he was lame. There was nothing he could do to earn it. All he had to do was accept it. This was a kindness that was paid for by somebody else. It was a kindness that was the result of somebody else’s actions. You see the story of Mephibosehth shows us so much about the kindness and mercy of God. For just as Mephibosheth could not earn God’s kindness, neither can we. It was already paid for. There is no catch. There is nothing we have to do but accept it. God wants us to eat at the kings table. There is a place always prepared.

And lest you think it is too late to experience this kindness, consider tha case of Mephibosheth. Although we do not know how old he was, it probably wasn’t that old, but he was the last person to expect kindness from David. He had probably blamed David for his circumstances, hated him for his lot in life and despised him for everything he stood for. And most, if not all of that was because he never knew David.

You see, so many people in this world are like Mephibosheth to God. They blame him for their lot in life, hate him for the things they must go through and think that all he wants to do is kill them. But that is because they do not know him. And God’s kindness is reaching out to them, to give them a place of honor at his table if they would just accept it. No strings attached. Nothing to do. No way to earn it. Just accept it.

You may feel like Mephibosheth. You feel like God has put you into all these hard and difficult places. You may even felt at times that you hated God. God still loves you and is reaching out to you with his kindness. He has brought you here today on purpose, so that you can get to know the real kindness of God. Romans declares it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. So come and experience his kindness today, and you will always have a place at the kings table.