Firing the gods

Psalm 82 1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgement: 2 ‘How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? (Selah) 3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I say, ‘You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; 7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.’ 8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!

No more small gods.... Takes time for ideas to sink in (2500+ years) Hundreds of years later, Jesus and Paul were trying to get this idea across and it still wasn’t going over all that well

Three criteria for judgement of the gods Active justice (‘rescue’) for the weak Understanding (knowledge/awareness with empathy) Must be god of all

Is your god big enough? Loves all people with mercy and justice? Actively protects and saves the weak? Leads people to empathic understanding of others (especially the weak) Never sides with the powerful over the weak? Never identifies with a nation (or power group or gender or race) for its own self-interest Never a small god taking over all but the revelation/discovery of the God who has always been God of all

If we accept the verdict of this divine council, we will never bow to any human powers (leaders, structures, religious institutions) devoted to a small god Instead we celebrate a God of all, bigger than all the interest groups, rescuer of the weak And figure out how to serve that God