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Luke 20:4 · World English Bible

Luke 20:4 Meaning The Baptism of John

the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?

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What does Luke 20:4 mean?

Every claim the mind meets comes from one of two sources, and to know which is to know everything about it. The single question sets the whole matter plainly: is this from love or is it of the ego, from heaven or of men.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Luke 20:4 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

Every claim the mind meets comes from one of two sources, and to know which is to know everything about it. The single question sets the whole matter plainly: is this from love or is it of the ego, from heaven or of men. There is no third origin. What the mind cannot decide it usually does not wish to decide, because the true answer would require it to give up a position it was defending.

This is the choice underneath all seeming complications. Behind every appearance stands one question only, whether it comes from fear or from love, and the mind that is willing to ask it honestly has already begun to see clearly.

Baptism: the offer of cleansing and new sight held out to the mind, traceable to love or to the ego depending on the mind's own judgment of it

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Luke 20:4 today

  1. Before you send the message you drafted while annoyed, read it once and ask plainly whether it comes from fear or from care. You will know within a second.
  2. When you are about to say yes to someone, check whether you want to or whether you are afraid of what saying no will cost. Both are allowed. Knowing which is the point.
  3. In a tense moment at work, ask yourself what you are protecting. The answer usually makes the next sentence much easier to choose.

If I trace this feeling back to its root, do I find fear there, or love?

The same truth in other traditions

Buddhism

Every action starts in one of two roots, grasping or letting go. Trace any choice back far enough and you find which one you were standing on.

Stoicism · Epictetus

Before you act on an impression, pause and test it. Ask where it came from, because the untested impression is the one that runs your life.

Tao Te Ching 22

The one who does not contend is the one nobody can contend with. Drop the position you were defending and the whole question gets simple.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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