When a person chooses to pick up a Bible and begin reading, one of the things that stands out is the unique names of many of the characters. You do not find Bob, Jim, Susan, or Jennifer… no you find Enoch, Tamar, and one of my favorites – Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth has always been an interesting name and character from the Bible to me. Even now as I type this out, my spell check does not recognize Mephibosheth as a correct spelling of a word. It is not a name that you hear very often, but it is a very important person in the story of the Bible.

Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan who was the son of King Saul in the nation of Israel. The grandson of the king was an important person. You might be tempted to think that this man would hold the throne one day, but that would be very far from the truth. Mephibosheth would never sit upon the throne as king.

One can see that during a time of battle, Jonathan was killed in battle. Mephibosheth was only five years old. Out of fear for his life, his a nurse tried to get the young boy out of danger but dropped him. The result was that both of Mephibosheth’s feet were severely crippled. This would be an ailment that plagued Mephibosheth for the rest of his life.

As time went on, David became the king over Israel. He dearly loved his best friend, Jonathan. In 2 Samuel 9, we see that David wanted to honor his friend by showing kindness to someone from the family of Jonathan. This is interesting because it was Jonathan’s own father that chased David all over the land trying to kill him. David still wanted to honor his friend though. The only relative of Jonathan that was known of was Mephibosheth.

David had Mephibosheth brought into the king’s own home. We see that Mephibosheth came concerned. It was common practice in those times and areas to eliminate anyone from the former king’s family to prohibit them from seeking the throne. I can easily see why Mephibosheth was worried about coming before the new king.

What plays out is a picture of amazing grace. David does not seek to do any ill will towards Mephibosheth. Instead, the king elevates Mephibosheth to a high place of honor. The king restores all of his family’s fields to Mephibosheth. If that were not enough, the king then sets a permanent place at his very own table for Mephibosheth to dine.

This is exactly what the grace of God does through the gospel of Jesus Christ towards sinners. The Bible is clear that we all have been severely crippled by the sin in our lives (Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1). Like Mephibosheth, the result of another’s actions brought our condition upon us (Romans 5:12), and we have to live in the consequences. There is nothing that we can do on our own to change our condition, but God has stepped in – much like King David did for Mephibosheth – and did what we could not do for ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Mephibosheth could bring nothing to the table but his shortcomings. The same is true of us. We cannot make God love us any more than He already does, nor can we make God love us any less. By His grace, God has reached out to us and offered a place at His table through His Son, Jesus Christ.

If you have not experienced the wonder that is a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus, then I would invite you to come to the table of His grace and be made whole again.