Friday 12th July
Read John 10:31-39
“Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’
33 ‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’
34 Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, “I have said you are ‘gods’”? 35 If he called them “gods”, to whom the word of God came – and Scripture cannot be set aside – 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, “I am God’s Son”? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.’ 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.” (NIVUK)
Much meditation can be undertaken on the way in which Scripture is used by Jesus. This is one of the more challenging occurrences. Psalm 82, read in context, suggests that the judgments made by Jewish elders are unable to live up to the constancy and justice of those rendered by the Judge of all the earth. They are fallible and inconstant. Like their judgments, those who make them are mortal and will die. What a day to look forward to then when God Himself will render judgment, pure and perfect.
Jesus however makes one key observation from the psalmists’ words. If those who were simply recipients of God’s word, even if it was a word of judgment, are described as ‘gods’, then why, if the Jews hold the Law in such high esteem, should there be any issue with His likening Himself to a ‘god’? If these lesser ‘gods’ are named in God’s law as human beings, how much more should the One sent by the Father consider himself amongst the ‘gods’? The law they so earnestly defend with stones affirms Jesus’ claims also!There is much to meditate upon in Psalm 82 and also in this passage. Spend time today reflecting on just how high a view of Scripture you hold. Is it as high as our Lord’s?
