God's Love-First Subversion

1 Samuel 23:17 and 28:13 and 2 Samuel 9:7 (verses 34-36 of 145)

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You shall be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”

I’ve been thinking about how mysteriously subversive God is. Like a salvation plan that depends on a tiny, helpless baby born in the midst of the brutal Roman Empire. Like Jesus not spending his time trying to change the power structures of the world, as many of his followers wanted him to do, but spending it instead opening people’s hearts to release them from pain and grief or sickness. To help them see their neighbors as themselves.

The above verse is Jonathan speaking, Saul’s son, who has slipped away from his father and his powerful army and advisors to visit his friend David who is in the wilderness hiding.

It’s not the first time David and Jonathan promised each other that their friendship would come first, regardless of how the world around them changed. In Chapter 20 verse 42, Jonathan tells David, “Go in peace! The two of us have vowed friendship in God’s name, saying, ‘God will be the bond between me and you, and between my children and your children forever!’”

I remember Sunday School lessons when I was a child holding up this story as an example of the deepest kind of friendship—two friends who saw each other’s hearts.

The rest of 1 Samuel is the story of David’s ascendance. Saul, on the other hand, is increasingly deranged in his desire to kill David, even seeking out a Medium whom he instructs to bring the prophet Samuel back from the dead (1 Samuel 28:13) so Saul can ask his advice. Shortly thereafter, both Saul and Jonathan are killed in a battle against the Philistines.

Fast forward years and battles and betrayals later. David is made king of Judah and Israel, and one day he asks if there are any survivors from Saul’s family. He learns there is only one, Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, a man who is lame in both feet as a result of a childhood injury.

It’s hard to know how many years have passed. The Bible notes that Mephibosheth was five years old when his father died, and he was injured as his nurse tried to escape with him. But David, learning of his existence, summons him and tells him “Don’t be afraid.” He astounds him by returning to him all the land and servants that belonged to his grandfather Saul and by insisting he eat with David’s family every night. It is an honor so astonishing Mephibosheth can hardly find words to answer.

I love how Jonathan’s words of encouragement and hope to David travel through the years and become words of hope and encouragement that David speaks to Jonathan’s son. I see it as an example of God’s marvelous subversion to turn heartbreak into hope. A reminder, too, that the grace and blessing and love we nurture in our lifetimes will outlast them, another mysterious wonder of God’s love-first subversion.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash