Reading from Tuesday, June 1

Hey, I'm still up. Let's do another one...

Reading from June 1
2 Samuel 18:1-19:10
This is it. Showdown between David and Absalom. David's troops return to Israel and Absalom's troops attempt to protect it. Before going into battle though, David ordered that Absalom not be harmed, as he was David's only remaining son. Well Absalom got stuck in a tree and then one of David's men stabbed him in the heart with three spears. Pretty brutal.

David's troops win the war and David is able to reclaim his throne over his people. Everyone was joyful until David found out about Absalom's death. He was heartbroken and  it says that the entire army's joy went to sorrow because of David's deep grief.

John 20:1-31
Wow, a couple of really neat things here at the end of John.

You may have  heard of "doubting Thomas". Thomas was a disciple who did not believe that Jesus had come back from the dead, and said "unless I see the wounds and put my finger in the holes, I won't believe it" Well Jesus came to him and Thomas saw and believed. Jesus is speaking to Thomas when he says:
 ²⁹Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

This is the whole idea of faith. Many people cannot believe in Jesus because they cannot see him, or put their fingers in his wounds, but Jesus says that those who believe without seeing are blessed. Paramore has a song where one of the lines is "It's not faith if you're using your eyes." And I think that's exactly what Jesus is saying here.

The other cool thing here about the end of John is the closing paragraph. He directly addresses the reader and gives a summary of why this book was written. It also gives some clues as to when it was written, likely after the other Gospels had already been pretty well known...

 ³⁰Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹But these are written that you may^[a] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

So the purpose of these Gospels was to convince you and me that Jesus was the son of God. I'm fairly confident that it worked for me. What about you? Do four books of differing stories convince you that Jesus was divine and the son of God? Or is it just a really great story?

Psalm 119:153-176
 ¹⁶⁹ May my cry come before you, O LORD;
       give me understanding according to your word.

This should be my motto


Proverbs 16:14-15
 ¹⁴ A king's wrath is a messenger of death,
       but a wise man will appease it.
 ¹⁵ When a king's face brightens, it means life;
       his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.

OK, now I'm really tired. Goodnight friends.