Summary
Psalm 82:1 “God [elohim: plural of “el”] has taken his place in the divine council [“el” council]; in the midst of the gods [elohim] he holds judgment.”
Elohim is a wild word. It’s usually translated “God,” but it’s the plural of “god,” so can also be translated “gods,” as in Psalm 82:1
God is one and yet, more than one, it would seem.
And there appears to be a “council of gods.”
In Psalm 82 they’ve been charged with justice and haven’t judged justly.
Who or what is “the divine council?”
In the cartoon South Park, there is a council of “Super Best Friends.”
It’s made up of Buddha, Muhammed, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Laozi, Sea Man, and Jesus.
Supposedly they fight for justice and each has a super-power like fire, ice or invisibility.
Does Jesus have a super-power?
In the cartoon, Muhammed shoots fireballs, but alas he appears in the cartoon no longer.
Muslims find depictions of Muhammed offensive and disrespectful.
Yet, long before Muhammed, the Lord God said, “make no image of me.”
It’s ironic: God says make no image of me, and we each try to make ourselves in the image of God and make ourselves wretched.
We’re jealous of God and so try to make ourselves God. We compete at being God.
We seek to be first and make everyone else last.
We exalt ourselves and find ourselves, dead, alone and unable to love.
And God is Love.
Psalm 82:6: “I said, ‘you are gods [elohim], sons of the Most High [elyown], all of you.’”
When and where did God ever say that?
Who is God talking to?
In John 10, Jesus tells “the Jews” that he and his Father are one.
They are two persons (or three persons) and one substance.
They are a sacrificial dance of Relentless Love.
“The Jews” pick up stones to stone him (See? They’re jealous of God).
They pick up stones and say, “You, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus responds to “the Jews” by quoting Psalm 82:6, “I said, ‘you are gods,’ sons of the Most High, all of you.”
Jesus claims to be God… And he seems to say, “the gods-r-us.”
It’s as if Elohim wants us to be “elohim.”
It’s as if God is a dance and he wants us to join him.
It’s as if we are to be “filled with all the fullness of God.”
In Genesis 1 God creates us, male and female, in his own image.
On the seventh day he sees that everything is good, and we know that “God alone is Good.”
On the sixth day, Satan tempts us to make ourselves in the image of God.
If we believed that we were the image of God, perhaps we wouldn’t be tempted to make ourselves in the image of God?
If we believed that we were “gods” or at least “sons of God,” perhaps we wouldn’t compete with the other “gods,” make ourselves ungodly, and judge unjustly?
Jesus is not a man making himself God; but God making himself man.
Jesus had no need to guard his “ego;” it’s not clear that he even had one.
Jesus is God making himself man, in order that man “might be made god” (St. Athanasius ~ 350 AD).
God said make no image of me, yet he made the perfect image of himself.
It’s just the opposite of what we would make; it’s the heart of God bleeding on a tree.
It’s not the exaltation of self; it’s the emptying of self—kenosis.
It’s painful in this world, but it’s the first step in the great dance that is Relentless Love.
You must never think that you can make yourself God.
But I hope you believe that God has made himself you.
“It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” wrote Paul.
“As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Psalm 82 ends like this: “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High all of you; nevertheless, like men [literally, “as adam”] you shall die, and fall like any prince.’ Arise Oh God [elohim] and judge the earth; for you shall inherit the nations.”
Jesus had a superpower and he’s giving it to us.
He didn’t try to be God; he knew that he was God.
He had the power to lose his life and find it.
He is humble.
I suspect that you are part of the divine council… and your superpower is humility.
It’s the power to not be offended, the power to forgive, the power to enjoy others, the power to love. God is Love… He sits on the throne in the temple of your soul and judges justly.
The self that you think you made—your ego—is “of the Devil.”
And the self that God has made, is God in you.
God is humble.