This is the sixth in a multi-part series about friendship. You can read the first post here, the second post here, the third here, the fourth here, and the fifth here.
It’s been a long week or so, with more work than self-care and/or friendship happening. A trip to Target and a cheeseburger should set me right. For those of us whose troubles run a little deeper and can’t always be solved with retail therapy, this post is (finally) for you. For all of us, really, when we struggle to remember how very very beloved we are. Okay, here it is.
In his greeting to Mephibosheth, David says three things that I want to emphasize.
1: I will shower you with my love. That word for kindness is almost untranslatable. It’s covenant love; steadfast love; loving kindness. It means bounty, showering of bounty, and is the result of the love of the giver.
David says I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I am showering my love upon you because of who you are attached to, because of what someone else has done, not because of what you have done.
Like when Robyn took me under her wing because our terrifying choir teacher told her to. That had nothing to do with me, who I was or what I could offer. It came with her job of being a leader and high-profile member of the choir. It was what she signed up for. Part of the deal. She did it because of who our teacher was to her, not who I was. I was nobody. The teacher was somebody.
There was nothing at all inherent in me that would in any possible way benefit Robyn. I had nothing to offer anyone, especially her. Remember, she was tall, blond and gorgeous, and I was none of those things.
There’s a second thing that David says: after first “I will give you my love,” second, I will make you rich/restore your land.” In this culture, land was power; land was wealth.
He says: I am going, by an act of my love, to immediately remove you from poverty to riches. Riches you could not ever earn on your own at this point; riches you have never even worked towards. These riches are the result of my love for you.
So in that culture, land was wealth, but in high school culture, popularity was wealth. Robyn was a senior. She had friends in the choir. Attractive male friends. Also friends with cars. Cars that were not Chevettes. I was hooked up.
She blessed me with her friendship, and by extension I also got credibility. I was cool by association. I was given confidence, social status, acceptance. I became rich in the currency of high school.
Again, put yourself in Mephibosheth’s position. What would it be like to hear that? To be given what you most need- and to have more of it than you could ever use.
Then the third thing: After, 1) I will set my love upon you, 2) I will shower you with riches, then: 3) I will adopt you into my family.
That’s what it means when it says: You will eat at my table always. You will live in my court. It means that from this day forward, you will be in the inner sanctum of my family; you will banquet at my table; you will be my son.
And then, the story goes, David begins to act on his commitment: to love, to shower with riches and to adopt Mephibosheth into his family.
Again, not because of anything Mephibosheth did- or didn’t-do himself.
But because of who his father was, to someone very important and with unlimited resources.
In verse 13 of chapter 9, it says: “So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he always ate at the king’s table.”
So what is the point? Bet you can’t guess…..
* “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.