King Herod was working hard to annoy the church. And I mean he was working really hard, he killed John’s brother James with a sword. Well, that very much pleased the Jews, so then he threw Pete in jail too! This was during the time of the unleavened bread. He had a whole bunch of soldiers watching Peter. He planned on bringing him out at Easter. Peter was kept in prison but he kept praying even though he couldn’t go to church.
Herod would have brought him out. That night Peter was sleeping between soldiers, bound with two chains, and with guards at the door. And the angel of the Lord came to him, a light shining in the prison and he hit Peter on the side, telling him to get up quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. The angel told him to get dressed and follow him. Pete followed him out, but didn’t know if this was real or a vision. They past the first two wards of the prison and out the gates of the city which totally opened on its own! He walked through the gate and then the angel left.
After he thought about what happened, he went to John Mark’s mother Mary’s house, where a lot of people were praying. When Pete knocked a girl named Rhoda answered the door. She was so happy to see Peter she forgot to open the gate and told everyone that Pete was at the gate. Well everybody told her she was crazy. She objected, and they told her that it must be her angel. Peter kept knocking at the gate so eventually they came out to see him and they were astonished.
Because why would they listen to a girl, she must be hysterical! She couldn’t possibly be right.
He told them to quiet down as he told this amazing story about how the Lord delivered him from prison. He told them to go share this with James and his brethren and he left to go someplace else.
Well as it turns out the soldiers noticed that Pete was missing. When Herod looked for him to put him to death and couldn’t find him, he commanded that his guards be executed instead. That’s Herod for you, he’s always been known for his special brand of compassion. Herod wasn’t done being upset, he was also highly displeased with the folks of Tyre and Sidon, but they came to agreement with him because they became friends with Blastus, the king’s chamberlain their friend, and they needed the peace because their country was dependant on the Herod’s country.
Herod, all dressed up in his royal clothes made a speech to them. They people were so impressed with his speech that they cried out that it wasn’t the voice of a man but of God. So the Lord in his infinite compassion struck Herod the King dead. Because he wanted to wanted to punish him for trying to kill JC’s BFF Pete? Nope, he killed him because Herod didn’t give glory to God. Herod wasn’t even the one who said he was God! It was some other guy! But Herod was the one who was eaten by worms, and he gave up the ghost.
The word of God grew and multiplied.
Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, where they had fulfilled their ministry and took John Mark with them for their next adventure.
I like how the angel of the lord who comes to Pete has to jab him in the side. It lends such a funny mortal feel to whole story. He's not gently spirited away by a supernatural creature, he's jabbed in the side and forced to walk through a room of sleeping guards. Funny.
ReplyDeleteGod is infinite in his fairness. Herod doesn't say he's god, but he's gets punished for it anyway. God must use a special supernatural definition of "fair" that my poor mortal mind just can't comprehend.