Ye Are Gods

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers … -- Hebrews 2:11

St. Augustine, commenting on Psalm 2, said, "God makes of sons of men sons of God, because God hath made of the Son of God the Son of man."   

Obviously, we need to have respect for God and not be presumptuous.  At the same time, though, Scripture gives us reason to think that our God is a loving, caring, even playful Father.  The phrase “have one origin” is often translated simply “of one”.  Both Christ and man come of the same source and, in the Incarnation, God took on the nature of humanity.  Moreover, from the very beginning man was made in the image and likeness of God, that is, man was given the same nature, only bound and finite as opposed to infinite.  Adam was supreme in his sphere, under his Father. 

The Fall corrupted us to the extent that God could no longer have communion or walk with man, except in the case of a few specifically chosen individuals.  We are all, however, reconciled by the Cross wherein the fallen nature is nullified, the nature of Christ Himself is imparted to us, and we are accepted in Him.     

Just thinking what comes next scares me because it traverses a very high, narrow and precarious path.  The abyss that yawns at the edge of the trail calls constantly to the arrogant, appealing relentlessly to our innate hubris.  You can be as gods, it says.  Throw yourself off the top of the temple, it says.  If, nonetheless, we overcome our spiritual vertigo and keep walking on this ledge, the reward is great. 

Jesus could have had an earthly kingdom.  He knew it.  His disciples sensed it, and they kept expecting it and hounding Him about it.  Right up to the end, the Lord could have said, Enough!  He could have stepped out and taken over.  A lot of people thought He should have done that, and even today, there are many who cannot seem to understand why He went through what He did.  Jesus walked that ledge. 

The world doesn’t have to be such a bad place – if we understand that it is temporary and transitory. It is the living edge of creativity.  Life is meant to be poured out, not hoarded.  There is no reason to live in fear.  We don’t welcome suffering, but we can’t allow ourselves to be held back by it either.  We don’t have to “make something of ourselves” or seek fame and fortune.  We refuse to throw ourselves down and become magicians.  Instead, we throw ourselves into the arms of the Lord; we abandon ourselves to God.  We are no longer in bondage to the fear of death or anything else. 

No matter how much of your life you pour out, the vessel is never going to be emptied.  This jar of clay will be emptied, broken, and eventually left behind like the husk of a seed sown, but a new and more capacious receptacle awaits us.  

If that all that is true, how do Christians “burn out”?  It happens.  It’s happened to me, and I can speak only for myself.  I was pouring from the wrong source.  I listened to the siren-song of the abyss, and I had a mighty rough landing.  It’s a long, hard climb back up.  It’s been made harder, perhaps, by the bombardment of media and popular culture and what we might call the Oprah-fication of the Church. 

Despite all the difficulties, we are the children of God.  He is our Father.  As we surrender to Him, absolutely and unconditionally, the Lord Himself will lead us safely along that precipice to our place of rightful inheritance and authority.  Accept no substitutes.      

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah

We don’t see any signs for us.  There is no longer a prophet.  And none of us knows how long this will last. – Psalm 74:9 (HCSB)

Thinking about the Fall, at some point, man became aware of God and of his connection to God.  Not long after, man became aware of a problem in that he is inclined to go his own way and not listen to the voice of God speaking in his heart.  Though oneness with the Creator is clear at times, the separation and disunity is equally evident on other occasions. 

Even as man came to grips with the Fall, as envy and pride and even fratricide were manifest, humanity longed for a resolution to the separation for the Bible says, At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.  We developed codes and rules, and we offered sacrifices.  We tried to create our own gods who did not demand the impossible.  We tried by technology to build our way into heaven, to touch God on our own terms. 

For a while, our best efforts were directed horizontally.  We sought unity in our families, in a social structure, and in the development of cities and civilizations.  It seemed for a time that these unifying efforts might work, but our most powerful cooperative achievements lead ultimately to confusion and fragmentation.  No matter how good our intentions are as we start out, we inevitably build a hierarchy, a pyramid with its power concentrated at the apex.  There will invariably then come to that point of power individuals who are corrupted by it.  Jesus, quoting from Psalm 82, said, “You are gods” , and that is what the man or woman standing on the platform at the top of the tower hears.  Looking down, it does seem that the people are sheep without a shepherd.  For a moment the confusion is gone, and the leader sees clearly that they are to be united under him or her.  It makes so much sense.  So much can be achieved.  It is so efficient and effective.  Surely it must be God’s will.  Of course, at first, the leader means only to be a priest or a stand-in for the living God, but there are crises and disasters and people really need a leader who understands.   

It is the exceptional individual who can resist the allure of the pyramid’s peak.  Washington did it, but he was a rare man.  Others have not done so well.   It doesn’t have to be a nation or a religion.  You can see it on a smaller scale in almost any group or organization, in local churches and in cities.  When the hubris has run its course and reaped its certain and unavoidable harvest, the certainty and stability that everyone sought and worked to preserve dissipates.  We are left with the emptiness of separation and chaos. 

Confusion will lead to despair.  We are like radioactive atoms seeking the stable state of a lower level even if it is miserable.  This instability and lack of grounding is too disruptive and destructive for us to long endure.  Even settling in the mud is restful by comparison.

It had happened to Israel as they were successfully invaded by an enemy who attacked the focal point of their existence as a people:   They said to themselves, We will utterly subdue them; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.  By destroying all the altars and physical points of contact, the enemy seeks to destroy the hope and will of God’s people, and for a moment confusion and despair do seem to gain the upper hand. 

We can feel it even today.  There are no signs that we can see, except the signs of destruction and hopelessness.  Lawless hangs over our heads like the highwayman’s cutlass.  The poniard is at our throats.  Have we any prophets?  Is that a joke?  Every prophecy has failed with even the prophets of doom coming up short.  None of us knows how long it will last.  That is the worst.  If we knew when the end would come, perhaps we could steel ourselves to hold out. 

In our darkness we cry out:  How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

Though there are no signs and no prophet speaks, God is still sovereign.  As the Psalmist reminds himself and us,  God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.  Wait a minute.  God divided the sea to give us deliverance.  He stopped the rivers to let us into our land of promise.  He destroyed Leviathan – the chaos monster.  God rules the day and the night.  In this world, created and sustained by His Word, deliverance will come.

Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name.

 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever.

Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!