He really had no business being there. First, it’s not like he was family or anything . . . no blood connection . . . no obligation to include him. What’s more, it’s not as if he were included because of his accomplishments or might. In fact, he was lame in both feet . . . a cripple, since he was a young child . . . with no ability to contribute to the strength of the royal court. And finally, it’s not as if he intrinsically provided some strategic advantage through his presence. Instead, he was the grandson of a defeated rival . . . heir to a competing royal line who once occupied the throne. If anything, this stranger, cripple in both feet, might be considered an enemy, a threat.

But there he was occupying a seat of privilege . . . eating at the king’s table . . . just like one of the king’s sons.

The story of Mephibosheth (2Samuel 9) never ceases to move me. David, having secured his hold on the throne . . . king over all Israel . . . conqueror over Israel’s enemies . . . determines that he wants to show kindness to any survivor of Saul’s house, “for Jonathan’s sake” (2Sam 9:1).

Jonathan, the son of King Saul, himself an heir to the throne, had been David’s friend. He had been David’s number one cheerleader right from the beginning. He recognized David as God’s anointed and, as such, submitted to David his claim to the throne (1Sam. 18:4). He even put his own life on the line for David, protecting David from the jealous rage of Saul. When David was in a most desperate situation, Jonathan had gone to him and encouraged him in the Lord (1Sam. 23:16). By David’s own declaration, the love shown him by Jonathan was “extraordinary” (2Sam 1:26). But their friendship was cut short when Jonathan was slain in battle.

And so, for the sake of Jonathan . . . for the sake of another . . . David desires to show kindness.

Enter Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son . . . lame in both feet since age 5 . . . dropped by his nurse as they fled after the defeat of King Saul and the death of his dad (2Sam. 4:4). Could have been a somebody . . . ended up being a nobody. Grew up without a father . . . grew up without a future. He who might have been royalty, was destined to be, at best, a recluse. And then, a king determines to show kindness to him for the sake of another. Can anyone say, “Grace!”

Though a natural enemy to his throne, David instead spares his life . . . that would have been favor enough! But the favor didn’t stop with just granting him life. Next, David restores to Mephibosheth an inheritance, giving him all the land once owned by the family of Saul. Mephibosheth is set for life. But there’s still more. Beyond any expectation of a lame man with little to offer the throne . . . beyond any imagination of man from an enemy lineage to the throne . . . Mephibosheth hears David say, “And you shall eat at my table always” (v.7). No way!!!

Yes way . . . that’s kind of how grace works.

Enemies, deserving of death, given life. Impoverished beggars, incapable of helping themselves, bequeathed an inheritance beyond imagination. Those of inconsequential bloodlines, undeserving of even gazing upon royalty, invited to eat at the king’s table.

So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. (2Samuel 9:11b ESV)

Received like one of the king’s sons. That’s how grace works . . . I should know. I too have been invited to dine at the King’s table. Not because of who I am . . . not because of what I bring to the table . . . despite that I was once an enemy. But because He, in His Sovereign purposes, has determined to show abundant kindness to this guy who’s “lame in both feet” . . . and has seated him at the table.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:5-7 ESV)

Seated at the table . . . seated together with Christ in the heavenlies . . . like one of the King’s sons.

All because of grace . . . all for His glory!