Blessed are the merciful.
—Matthew 5:7
Jeremiah was in a pickle. He’d said some things that ruffled the feathers of the powerful. They dumped him into a nasty cistern to die of exposure and starvation. (See Jer. 38.)
Ebed-Melech, a palace servant, reported their cruelty to the king, who told him to recruit a crew and rescue the prophet “before he dies.”
Heading out, Ebed-Melech took a detour to the laundry room and filched a duffle of old rags.
Dropping rescue ropes and the bundle of rags into the cistern, he shouted to Jeremiah, “Put the rags under your arms to pad the ropes”—second-mile kindness.
Ebed-Melech. Funny name. But a name Jeremiah would never forget.
People don’t forget kindness—especially thinking-ahead-second-mile-make-it-as-comfortable-as-you-can-kindness.
There are times when you need an Ebed-Melech—and times when you need to be an Ebed-Melech.
Do something for somebody that will
cause you to be gratefully remembered.