2 Chronicles continues...

So there was finally a good king. He was pretty consistent apart from an episode of near-death in which he was not appreciative of a sign God sent him. But on the whole, he was quite successful as a man of God, and thus, as a king. He even got buried in the temple of kings, which I've only come to know about since it's repeatedly mentioned that the others have not been. After my earlier comments in which I felt that things seemed a bit arbitrary, there is clearly a much stronger pattern emerging-- of God looking after the people who follow his laws. I've always been kind of reluctant to believe this, since obviously bad things happen to Christians all the time. But it seems to be the message of this era and chapters-- on the whole, God looks after his people. Whether or not that is true of our personal experiences....it does seem to have been the case with these kingdoms.

On to John. Peter has betrayed Jesus. Again, reading this story, even though I've read it many times before, I am struck by things anew-- firstly that Peter must have actually been in a difficult and frightening situation. The person who confronted him was a cousin of the high priest whose ear he'd cut off. So there was probably a real threat of a physical nature. Also, their world must've been turned upside down. This person who they knew as their saviour and as the King of the world had been arrested and was threatened with execution. That must have been horrifying, no matter how strong his faith. In addition to this, I don't think I'd read before Jesus's prayers for the disciples. They were so personal and tender. He was so committed to protecting them, and deliberate about making sure this happened. They were, after all, his friends. Jesus seemed more human to me when I read that-- the idea of him being fully human became more powerful.