Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Samuel chapter 18 verse 33:
The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
David made many mistakes as a man and I have been sharply critical of much of the way he gained power and ruled. A judgment fell upon his House because of his lust, murder, and abuse of power. His fall from grace was deserved.
But I cannot read the words in today's Lesson without sympathy and heartache. David had lost his son. And he had not only the grief of his death to deal with, but also the knowledge the he himself had much to do with what all it was that brought Absalom to his rebellion and, finally, his end. Wrong as David often was, I read this scene from a place of compassion within myself.
I think this is something we should all remember in these days. We are all living human stories. And there is sadness and sorrow in every one. Finding a place of compassion within ourselves for others -- even for the abusive, and for their first victims, their families -- leads us back to a deep and common wellspring of humanity which we all share and all, finally, will meet.
"Shall we gather at the River?" the old hymn asks. We shall. And the River is sadness, and grief, and guilt, deep humility, and common pain. We shall all gather there on its shore. And when we do we shall have no wish that even the vilest offender not cross over.
NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow's Lesson comes from somewhere in Psalms 26, v40, 58, 61-62, and 64.
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