“Carbon Ribs” by John Mark McMillan
Reflection
This song is one I return to year over year, season after season. I truthfully can’t recall a time I’ve listened to John Mark McMillan’s dialogue for “Carbon Ribs” without being brought to tears, as he skillfully weaves vocabulary around yearnings I’d lost hope of expressing myself. The story of Mephibosheth strikes at some of the deepest longings a human can experience: the longing for dignity, the longing for restoration of body and soul, the longing for a seat at the table.
McMillan takes an obscure passage of scripture and puts flesh and bone on those in this ancient story. He perfectly captures how it feels to be redeemed as he shares:
“Sometimes I can identify with Mephibosheth. Sometimes I feel broken and I don’t remember when the breaking happened, I just know I’m not right. Do you ever feel that way? And I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but because of this fall that Mephibosheth had nothing to do with, he was broken his whole life. But the beauty is because of nothing he had done - nothing he could earn, nothing he could deserve, but because of who his father was - the King decided to bring him up and sit him at the table…and that’s what we want anyway, just to sit at the table.”
Oh the despair of Mephibosheth’s plight. Oh the magnanimity of the good King. Oh to experience true friendship and acceptance this side of Heaven, to have a seat at the table for the rest of your days. There is nothing greater than this.
And a king greater than David, the King of Kings, calls us up to eat at his table as if we are his own sons and daughters. There is nothing we have done, nothing we could earn, nothing we could deserve in and of ourselves, but because of who our Father is we are favored forever.
I hope today you can drink in the richness of Jesus’ unfathomable grace for you as you assume your rightful place at the table.
Links
Lyrics
A thousand pairs of fiery eyes
Burn like a serpent down the Highway 5
As the long amber tail to Los Angeles unwinds
I've got this resurrection down in side my skin
But for all my revelating
I just can't make sense
Of this gravity we're in
Cause I'm a dead man now
With a ghost who lives
Within the confines of
These carbon ribs
And one day when I'm free
I will sit
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side
A thousand miles of pain I'm sure
Led you to the threshold
Of my heart's screen door
To tell me what it is I'm dying for
Gravity comes
Like a cold cold rain
To lead me to the rope again
But someone is standing in my place
Cause I'm a dead man now
With a ghost who lives
Within the confines of
These carbon ribs
And one day when I'm free
I will sit
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side
And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you
For Further Reflection
Consider listening to “Come to the Feast”.
Are there any ways you can identify with Mephibosheth in the story? Can you identify with his redemption?
Are there any in your life who do not yet have a seat at the table? How might you extend the hospitality of Christ to them?