CLEARING our loft, we came across a box full of Top Trumps cards.
You know the game, where you each have cards with which you try to trump the other player by having a bigger score.
This set my mind thinking about the biggest game of top Trumps, as Donald Trump was inaugurated president of the USA to Make America Great Again.
Here is a man definitely out to be top Trumps!
As Jesus wandered through Israel, the religious leaders and teachers sought to play a similar game, seeking to trump him at every turn.
They tried to trump him on matters of law, working on the sabbath, marriage and divorce, and associating with sinners.
They also tested him on paying taxes to the hated Roman occupiers to which he famously replied, looking at a denarius with Caesar’s inscription: ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.’ Matthew verse 22.
Jesus then played his card.
He asked them about the promised Messiah, or saviour, Jesus, whom King David in psalm 110 had called the ‘son of David’, but had also referred to as his Lord.
‘If David calls him his Lord,’ Jesus said, ‘how can he be his son?’
The teachers had no words to reply – they were trumped.
Jesus trumps everything.
Like David, we can recognise him as Lord in our lives.
Ian Stewart is a member of Christ Church Wokingham, which meets at St Crispin’s School every Sunday at 10:30am.
For information, visit: abch.org.uk
