Jesus' last week of his life in first-century, Roman occupied Jerusalem was not a good one. Jesus met with scandal, pressure from opponents, misunderstanding, a hasty nighttime trial, beating, humiliation, and a grueling death. He was among friends who misunderstood him, and worse, some of his closest friends turned on him. Peter denied knowing Jesus. Judas betrayed him. In the gospel of Luke, the two events happen side-by-side, first Judas, then Peter. Judas pretends closeness with Jesus, greeting him with a kiss. Peter stays at a distance, unsure of whether he wants to be associated with Jesus or not. Some people think Judas' offense was worse. He handed Jesus over to be crucified. Well, Peter played the coward. Judas, it seems, misunderstood Jesus and made a poor judgment call that merely helped out events that were already in motion. Peter simply cowered out of selfish fear. However you evaluate their actions, they both turned their backs on and abandoned t...
Forces outside of ourselves shape our lives. We are never independent writers of our own stories. But we can be attentive to what story writes us.