This is the third in a multi-part series about friendship. You can read the first post here and the second post here.
I feel like as soon as I started posting on this topic, stories about friendships started showing up everywhere. Here, for example- said much better than I could. I’m scrutinizing my own friendships differently than I ever have, and becoming more aware of my own weaknesses and aspirations regarding my friendships with other women. Who knew that the story of one friendship would be so resonant?
Actually, it’s the story of two friendships.
The first you’ve already heard about; my friendship with Robyn. The other one I’m going to tell you about in this post- the one between David and Jonathan.
To understand my friendship with Robyn, you need to know about David and Jonathan.
No, they were not our double dates for prom. They were friends in the Bible.
The story of how David and Jonathan met and became friends begins at Chapter 18 of the book of 1 Samuel in the Bible. They formed a covenant where they promised one another that they would fight for and protect one another. Which sounds cool until Chapters 19 and 20 show Jonathan’s father, King Saul, being so threatened by David that he tries to have him killed. Multiple times.
Talk about your awkward holiday get togethers. Hashtag: You tried to kill my BFF.
I digress. This mini-story of friendship between two men is meant to function as a lens through which we can view the meta story of redemption and fellowship in God’s kingdom. It can help us understand the dynamics of the bigger story that God is writing with us and gives a tangible example of how you and I can live with others as God would have us live.
A lot of other stuff happens in this dysfunctional relational triangle of David, Jonathan and Saul – David goes to war with Saul, he almost kills Saul in a cave but then lets him live, but then Saul dies anyway later, and so does Jonathan. And then David becomes king.
In Chapter 4 of the book of 2 Samuel, we learn that Jonathan had son before he died, and his son was named Mephibosheth.
Specifically, 2 Samuel 4 tells how when Mephibosheth was five years old, his father Jonathan, David’s best friend, was killed in battle along with Jonathan’s father, King Saul.
We are then told that when Mephibosheth’s nurse heard the news of the murder of Jonathan and Saul, she panicked and ran, carrying little five year old Mephibosheth in her arms. At some point while running, the nurse dropped the child, damaging his feet and causing him to become crippled for the rest of his life.
The baby prince who was in the line of succession to the throne became a damaged beggar who lived as an orphan in hiding.
What would have been a life of wealth became a life of misery, tragedy and heartbreak.
You’ll never guess what happens next.
* “All For Love” refers to one of the songs that instantly transports me back to high school. Nancy Wilson from Heart sings it as part of the soundtrack of the movie “Say Anything.” Join me in appreciating lace gloves and trenchcoats with shoulderpads here.