Many parents today will find themselves in a situation analogous to that of David facing Absalom. When children rebel it can be such a painful experience for parents. Today we read one of the consequences of Absalom's rebellion: his death in very ignominious circumstances. The natural death of a child, no matter how young or how old, is a fairly traumatic experience for parents. How much more traumatic is the death of a son or daughter coming in a tragic way essentially because of rebellion against their parents. It may be a death from drugs or from disease brought about by immorality or other recklessness.

When we read stories such as that of David and Absalom, we generally read them across a great divide: they seem so remote - another time, another place, another culture, other circumstances. But if we read today's story as that of a distraught parent grieving over a wayward son, we may begin to grasp in some small way that the Bible is really talking about our own human experiences even if individually we have not lived through the particular experience being recounted. There are many Absaloms in the modern world, and consequently there are many parents grieving like David.