John 18:20 · World English Bible
John 18:20 Meaning Jesus Answered Him
Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret.
What does John 18:20 mean?
Standing before men who twist words in the dark, he gives them nothing to twist: all of it was said in daylight, where anyone could listen. The fault this exposes is the love of the private angle, the deal whispered where it cannot be checked.
From the Sufism reading below.
John 18:20 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Sufism
SUFISM
Sufism
Standing before men who twist words in the dark, he gives them nothing to twist: all of it was said in daylight, where anyone could listen. The fault this exposes is the love of the private angle, the deal whispered where it cannot be checked. Its cure is to live so that no corner of the day would shame a person if it were shown.
And the One who sees is not only in the courtroom judging; He is the seeing itself, so nothing was ever really secret.
Sufism lensGo deeper in the app
Sufism lens
Live John 18:20 today
- Scroll back through yesterday's messages and look for one thing you said in a private chat that you would not have said in the group. Decide what you want to do about that.
- If you have been saying one version of something to one person and another version to someone else, straighten it out today with the plainer version. One honest sentence usually does it.
- When a conversation at work turns into a quiet side deal, somebody talked about behind their back, ask the simple question: would we say this with them here? Then say your part as if they were.
Which part of today would I rather not have shown?
The same truth in other traditions
Stoicism · Seneca
Live among people as if God were watching and speak to God as if people were listening. Arrange your life so you would not mind the door being left open.
Confucianism · the Doctrine of the Mean
The noble person is watchful precisely when alone, since what is hidden is the clearest thing of all. Nothing held back for the dark stays dark.
Judaism · Berakhot 28b
A dying sage blessed his students that they fear heaven as much as they fear being seen by other people, because a man sinning in secret still says, let no one see me. The measure of a person is what they do when they think the room is empty.
Free · No account needed
Read all of John 18 through 17 lenses
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store