WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6

“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; … she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:3-4)

For a class I’m taking at ETS, I was required to prepare and tell a biblical story. Since I wanted to focus on someone who was physically disabled, and someone who had not encountered and been healed by Jesus, I chose the story of Mephibometh, found in 2 Samuel. 9.

Mephibometh was the grandson of Saul, and he would have been in the race to be king if things had played out differently. Instead what we primarily know about him is that he had “two lame feet.”

Maybe the story is right and King David really just wanted to do something to help Mephibometh in memory of his friend Jonathan, or maybe he wanted to keep an eye on the remaining member of Saul’s family, or maybe a little of both. David called Mephibometh into his presence and told him that he would eat at the royal table that he had appointed someone to farm his Grandfather’s land on his behalf. But, David never talked with Mephibometh about what he might want or if and how he could be a real part of the ruling of Israel.

As things turned out, David could have used some help. If he had listened to voices of people who weren’t like himself, he might have been able to make Israel into the place that the prophets tell us God intended it to be and not the place where violence continued under the leadership of his children and his children’s children. David did a lot. But, in looking back, we can see that he might have done so much more.

We at First have the same opportunity that David did when we seek to intentionally include people who are unlike us. Like the wealthy people who threw lots of money into the temple treasury, we can take big risks because the worst thing that can happen is that our plans won’t work out the way we want. Often, that is not a bad thing. As I thought through the story, I felt more sorry for David than I did for Mephibometh because, though incredibly blessed, David ended up being a king like all of the others and not the real model of what he could have been.

Prayer: Gracious God, help our church act so that future members will look back on us and say, “Those folks really took some big risks and we’re so glad that they did!” Amen.

Terry Chaney