In our lives one of the most confusing things can be when we are under personal attack – especially when the person attacking us is close to us.  King David is under attack from his son Absalom – David has committed adultery and murder so he is hardly innocent, but the shock must have been acute. David longed for Absalom and yet his son conspired against him. How must Jesus have felt when the people turned against him, and Jesus is totally without sin. If we feel ourselves under attack by those we love, think on Jesus’s words on the cross: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. 

The Revd. Guy Hewlett