Mephibosheth knew it was because of Jonathan that he found kindness.

We know it is because of Jesus that we found kindness. That’s why we worship Jesus!

For some, Lent is about an in self-denial or a participation in Christ’s suffering, which are both valuable. But my main reason comes from a recent sermon about Marriage as a Metaphor for Gospel Living. I mentioned that because we are self-centered and lustful, we have to have intentional practices that get us beyond these problems. Because of our wayward, self-centered, sinful hearts, we will not naturally live in the Gospel. It will take some discipline, some intentional effort. We want a genuine, loving relationship with this person, and that relationship frees us, changes us, but this will involve some intentional practices.

I mentioned how some of us are like the guy on the couch who doesn’t do anything for his wife, and then once a week says I love you. I’d like you to get up off the couch, turn off the TV and consider how you can grow in your love for your “spouse.” I’d like you to consider giving up something that has been a real distraction in your love relationship with Jesus.

For some of us, maybe that means giving up ESPN, CNN, or TV altogether; movies, shopping, Facebook, video/computer games, iPod, make up, etc.

The purpose is not to punish ourselves or earn some points with God. The point is to have a genuine relationship with this person Jesus. The point is to remove obstacles/distractions and to create more space in our hearts/lives so that we can focus on Christ. In spiritual formation, we want to take off the old, put on the new. There’s no virtue in giving up Facebook in itself, but it may help you to have more time to meditate/memorize Scripture, to pray for others, to pick up your guitar and sing some praises, to be more available to serve and love others.

Unfortunately, this may not be a great picture for us today. Our sacred vows only last 50-60% of the time. It seems our “promises” have condition clauses and are open for renegotiation. Commitment, loyalty and faithfulness seem to be replaced with individual rights and freedom and expediency. This idea of hesed is somewhat foreign to our society.

Marriage is supposed to be a beautiful and powerful picture of “love set in stone.” There’s a real beauty in a marriage that has matured and sweetened over 40 or 50 years of joys and sorrows, faithfulness and intimacy. It is to picture hesed love, the love that God has for his people.

I’d like to encourage those who are married and those who plan to get married to consider, to be intentional about nurturing a marriage this is going to go the distance. It’s not a “well see how it goes,” but a “this will take some work and internationality.” We want to build-in habits and a culture that has long-term dividends. “Built to last.”

I found this website giving suggestions for a long lasting marriage. I thought some of the points were worth noting:

Have fun together, laugh together. You want to build a genuine friendship where you enjoy each other. Somewhere after the dating years and the kids have come, we stop having fun together.

Keep romance alive. Keep dating. Nurture emotional and physical intimacy. Find ways to keep emotional/physical intimacy fresh, fulfilling.

Accept your differences and don't try to change your spouse. There comes a point where we communicate that we accept them, even with their flaws. You recognize you’re not perfect either. You don’t focus on the problem that you want to fix, but one the person to whom you’ve committed your love.

Forgive one another. Don't hang on to past baggage and past hurts. Be willing to let go and to move forward with your lives. This is the gospel alive in your marriage. This is grace.

Share your relationship with God with one another. Pray together. Pray for the kids and family concerns together. Talk about what God has been teaching you. God becomes an anchor for you personally and for your marriage/family.

Returning to the sermon, the point is that David has committed love for Jonathan, long after the commitment was made, even after Jonathan himself had passed.

3 Son of Jonathan, crippled in both feet—known as the crippled, not named. In the ancient world, cripples lived desperate lives, not given much regard.

4 Lo Debar—in the remote region. Mephibosheth lives in obscurity, hidden and out of the way

7 “Do not be afraid.” Mephibosheth would’ve had good reason to be afraid.

8 Mephibosheth is shocked; he understands that he is utterly unworthy: “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

7 Mephibosheth is given all of King Saul’s land, all of King Saul’s property. Ziba is given as his servant, and we read that Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.

“you will always eat at my table” (7, 10, 11, 13)

Always ate at the king’s table, and he was crippled in both feet.

This concluding statement emphasizes it is a picture of grace. Someone weak and undeserving is given literal royal treatment.

Last Halloween, I took our boys to a Fall Festival at a nearby church. It was one of their ways to reach out to their immediate community, and my boys had a ball. There were dozens and dozens of carnival type games and craft stations, moon-bounce type inflatable slides and trampolines, a rock climbing wall, hot dogs and pop corn, balloons, and tons and tons of candy. They gave each kid a bag and it was as if they wanted to make sure that bag would be filled before the kid left. And everything was completely free. It was a huge give-away fest. For a kid, you walk in empty and walk away full. In the mind of a child, it was amazing grace in a glorious and sweet form.

Have you seen any episodes of Extreme Makeover home edition. Some needy family in a pretty hopeless situation perhaps with a special needs child or hit by some natural calamity, is given a dream home, with a beautiful design, tons of square footage, top-of-the-line, high-efficiency appliances, gorgeous furniture and interior decoration, lots of personalized touches, etc.

One episode featured the Grys family, Pekin, IL.

(Episode 612, http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index?pn=photos)

In 7 days they transformed this house.

Here’s a family with great needs given a dream house they’d never imagined they could have. Of course, Extreme Makeover promotes its sponsors and provides heart-warming entertainment. But to this family, it is lavish, over-the-top, beyond-wildest-dreams grace.

This David & Mephibosheth story is a story of lavish, over-the-top, beyond-wildest-dreams grace.

As explained to the kids, this was all because of David’s covenant with Jonathan. It was for Jonathan’s sake.

Grace means we didn’t deserve it. It was on our account that we received what we did. It was on account of another.

Last week we celebrated Charles’ ordination as a pastor. When I was seeking ordination, I remember coming before the examination committee, very nervous. But then one of them said, this is Paul, son of Rev. Chang Je Kim, and all their faces lit up. “How is your father?! Your father and I studied in seminary together. My, you’ve grown so much.” Needless to say, they were very kind to me. Their kindness had nothing to do with anything I had done for them. It was because they were friends of my father.

I must confess that I didn’t read the book or watch the movie. But in my search for an illustration, someone pointed me to this story. Warning: this is a movie-spoiler.

Amir and Hassan are the best of buddies in Afghanistan. War tears the two apart. Amir and his father are able to escape and eventually come to the US, where Amir becomes a successful novelist. 15 years after Amir had left Afghanistan, he gets a call from a close friend of his father who tells him that Hassan’s father had been killed by a land mine, and that Hassan had gotten married and had a son, Sohrab. However, Hassan and his wife had been killed by the Taliban. This friend had called to ask Amir to rescue Hassan’s son Sohrab.

Why would Amir go back to Afghanistan, risk his life, to save a boy he never met? Because Amir loved that boy’s father. It has nothing to do with Sohrab. It had everything to do with his father.

[movie trailer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm5e6AqrNF8]

“I’m going to find a boy. His father meant a lot to me.”

There’s something very humbling. There’s a deep sense of unworthiness and gratitude.

That’s the Gospel story, we received not because of ourselves, but because of Another.

If you’re not a Christian, the story of the Bible is a story about how God offers committed love to us, how He lavishes over-the-top, beyond-wildest-dreams grace upon us, and how he does this, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of Jesus. It is a story of divine kindness, unimaginable generosity, immovable love.

For the Christians, we remember, this isn’t just how the story begins. This is who our God is and how He treats us every day from now to the end of time!

Why do kings kill their rivals? It is because they need to secure their throne. The family of the former king is a threat. There’s a possibility that they or those around them will want to re-establish the other family. So they are all killed.

But what if the king felt no such threat? What if the king was so established, secure, strong, that there was not real threat that a rival could take the throne away? Then he wouldn’t have to kill them.