Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Saturday, March 8, 2014 Read John 10:31-42 Ever since the story of the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethzatha the Jews have attempted to kill Jesus. They are not able to do so because Jesus’ “hour” has not yet come. No one takes Jesus life from him – “the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John tells us that once again they sought to stone Jesus. Their motive is because they are convinced that Jesus is speaking blasphemy because he makes himself equal with God. Of course if Jesus were not equal with God then he would indeed be speaking blasphemy and be subject to stoning. The OT sentence for blasphemy was to be stoned. They will not be successful in stoning Jesus. John does not tell his readers that Jesus’ hour had not yet come – they have heard it often enough to know already. Jesus’ defense is peculiar. John tells us that Jesus quotes from the Law that in fact God had said, “You are all gods.” From a technical point of view, this passage is not written in the Law but comes from Psalm 82. The psalm is a peculiar one with a meaning that eludes most interpreters. The psalm speaks of a “divine council” in heaven where God takes his place at the head. The heavenly beings addressed in the psalm are chastised because they fail in judging rightly and showing partiality to the wicked. It is these heavenly beings that God address with the words, “You are gods” and then tells them that, even so, they will die like mortals. As I said, the psalm eludes interpretation and sounds more like Greek and Roman mythology than OT understanding. All of this makes it difficult to deal with Jesus’ use of this psalm. It seems to run counter to the rest of John’s argument. Surely he is not attempting to say that Jesus is God’s son in the same way all human beings are children of God, is he? Jesus is the unique Son of God – the Word made flesh. This passage is a difficult one to understand. Perhaps the main point of it all is that Jesus escapes the attempt on his life. And so he move across the Jordan to the east of Jerusalem – yet still in the arena of Jerusalem’s control. John tells us that John the Baptist had once baptized there and that many in that area believe in Jesus because what John the Baptist said about him was true. Once again there is a subtle call for followers of John the Baptist to do as their founder had done – follow Jesus. The removal of Jesus to beyond the Jordan has one other purpose in the scope of John’s storyline. The next episode will provide the most powerful and dramatic of Jesus’ signs. But for the sign to happen Jesus must be absent for a time. So the storyline works to accomplish this.