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Psalm 82 | King James Audio Bible
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Psalm 82 cries for justice and righteous governance. The psalm acknowledges God as the ultimate arbiter, who scrutinizes celestial rulers referred to as ‘gods’. This call to divine scrutiny explores governance, morality, and is a call for intervention to establish a more righteous order.
The psalmist opens with an image of God standing in judgment within the assembly of celestial beings. This divine assembly, a divine council, raises questions about fairness of rule. Celestial rulers, addressed as ‘gods’, are subject to divine investigation, accountability and moral evaluation.
The psalm includes a passionate plea for these celestial rulers to take up the cause of justice. The plea is not just a call for fairness but an invocation for the defence of the weak and vulnerable. The psalm goes beyond a theoretical concept of justice, urging a tangible and compassionate response to the cries of those oppressed. The psalmist paints a vivid picture of a world in need of divine intervention, where justice has been compromised, and the vulnerable are in desperate need of a defender.
There is acknowledgment of the imperfections of these celestial rulers. Despite their exalted status as ‘gods’ and ‘children of the Most High’, the psalmist states their mortality. Regardless of divine elevation, they share in the human condition and are subject to the inevitability of mortality. This bridges the celestial with the earthly, emphasizing interconnectedness of all beings in the grand narrative of existence.
The psalm concludes with a heartfelt appeal to God, the ultimate Judge, invoking a future divine rule characterized by righteousness. This plea extends beyond the immediate context of celestial governance, reaching towards a universal hope for a time when divine governance aligns harmoniously with virtuous principles. The psalmist, in envisioning this future, speaks to a timeless aspiration for justice, righteousness and divine intervention.
Psalm 82 | King James Audio Bible KJV | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Key Themes Of The Psalm For Reflection | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
Divine Scrutiny: The psalm vividly portrays God scrutinizing celestial rulers, questioning the fairness of their governance.
Call For Justice: A passionate plea urges these celestial rulers to champion the defence of the weak, emphasizing the necessity for divine intervention to restore justice on earth.
Imperfections Of Celestial Rulers: The psalm reflects on the mortality of celestial rulers despite their exalted status as ‘gods’ and ‘children of the Most High’.
Anticipation Of Divine Judgment: The psalm concludes with an earnest appeal to God, the ultimate Judge, anticipating a future divine rule characterized by righteousness.
Sometimes, when I read my Bible, I pause in the reading and say to myself: ‘This bit’s real.’ It would be fair to say, I have issues with Mary, because, contrary to what we are taught to say, Mary isn’t my mother. Rather: Mum is. One bit of the Bible-text says this: And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.” … And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mark 3: 21; 31-35.) Here she comes. She is in considerable distress. I can imagine that. I can relate to that. To save her boy from whatever he’s got himself into this time. And you’re not telling me there isn’t something inside that. Her boy is beside himself. Radical. Radicalized. Radicalizing. A misunderstood word. /ˈradɪk(ə)l/ adjective & noun. 1 Forming the root, basis, or foundation; original, primary. 2a Inherent in the nature of a thing or person; fundamental. b Of action, change, an idea: going to the root or origin; far-reaching, thorough. c Advocating thorough or far-reaching change. d Characterized by departure from tradition; progressive; unorthodox. ‘He has a demon! And he is mad!’ – thus ‘the Jews’. (e.g. John 10: 20.) Come home! It’s all she wants. His family want him back now. But it is an exclusive cult: there is an inside and there is an outside; and on the outside, they are not meant to understand, lest they be converted. He has defined himself as different from anything she was. Only at the end does Jesus say to his Mum – and with savage, bitter irony: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ And then he dies. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. We ask that we might find Mary in our hearts as a Yes! place for Jesus. It is also recommended that we pray to Jesus that we may be further in oneness with Mary. It is self-emptying, such that we only exist insofar as we are responsive to God’s Word. * Last term, and put-out to pasture, the old Archbishop Emeritus came over to stay for a few days and did the odd class with us. He spoke of Yes! as the meaning of Mary’s virginity. And we were not very nice about him. One or two took umbrage. One or two got the hump. In a sense, his Grace, the Arch, basically wanted to move anyone he’d ever known from a high-place – a mountain – received theological ‘truth’ – to an imminent, human plane. Earthing the spiritual. Recalibrating metrics of life’s believability toward a spiritual sense of things. He might have asked the impermissible question: what happened? His Grace described it. God’s love as a cloud. This descended upon Mary – and subsumed her. Within the cloud, Mary capitulated utterly. She became only and purely a response to God’s love. As he spoke, the Arch cradled her. He carried her in his lap – in his hands. His Grace was a consecrated bishop. He was faith. He sat squat, a rounded man, hands cupped and ankles crossed, fingers interlocked, with parted thighs. Rumpled, washed, speckled. A lifetime’s skin… There could be no doubt His Grace spoke through long-term personal relationship with Mary. It was Julian went for him: ‘So are you saying Mary was a Virgin? Or are you not saying Mary was a Virgin?’ Nasty. No, it wasn’t pretty. Julian twisting his silver ring. For a moment, what Julian had said to the Arch simply failed to communicate. No, for a moment, that dumped on the air meant nothing. Then His Grace said: ‘There is a range of possible meanings we may understand in the question of Mary’s virginity. For example, there are understandings of the word virginity entailed in the action of giving birth.’ Julian said: ‘Duh! So had she had sex or hadn’t she?’ Trigger words. No, it wasn’t pretty. On that went for a little while. At length, Julian’s point seemed reluctantly conceded. Then the Arch told us a new story, an additionally human event, the more to baffle us. Controversially, he told us that Mary could not have been Joseph’s first wife, for this would not have been the way of things in the society of that time. His belief was that Joseph must have taken Mary into his household through pity. That would be normal, he said, for Joseph to bring a young, vulnerable girl, who is about to have a baby, within his protection, not meaning to enjoy with her marital relations, but through kindness. ‘And this story of the inn and stable,’ the Archbishop said, ‘it can’t have been like that really. Joseph has travelled with Mary to stay with his family, at home in Bethlehem, and they don’t want Mary in their house, for reasons which I am sure we can understand. It must have been there was considerable resistance to Mary. But Mary gives birth, and who can resist a baby? That’s what happened. It must have been. ‘I’m convinced that must have been how it happened really.’ Later that term, toward the beginning of Advent, we met boys who had been here before, in Valladolid, and now were in regular seminary. They had heard and recited verbatim all the Archbishop had said to them. Their spot-on impressions of each of the fathers were scathing. […]
Origen reflects on the petition ‘Thy kingdom come’ as a request not for an external spectacle but for an interior reality. He begins with Christ’s teaching that the kingdom does not arrive with visible signs, for it is ‘within us and in our hearts’. With this, Origen redirects attention away from expectation of outward change and towards the inner life in which God’s reign is established through grace. The prayer for the kingdom is therefore a prayer for transformation: that God’s life may take root, grow, and reach its intended fullness within the believer [ … ]
‘Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.’ In this verse, Jesus elevates the relationship with his followers from servants to friends. He shares his knowledge and heart with us, inviting us into a deep and intimate friendship. This passage encourages us to reflect on the significance of being called friends by Jesus and the responsibilities and blessings that come with such a relationship [ … ]
