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Matthew 21:24 · World English Bible

Matthew 21:24 Meaning Jesus Answered Them

Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

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What does Matthew 21:24 mean?

A mind cannot receive an answer it is unwilling to give. The demand for love's credentials comes from the part that wants to judge before it will accept, to weigh the source of truth as though truth needed permission to be true.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Matthew 21:24 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

A mind cannot receive an answer it is unwilling to give. The demand for love's credentials comes from the part that wants to judge before it will accept, to weigh the source of truth as though truth needed permission to be true. Love meets this not by defending itself but by turning the question back, for the authority in question is the very thing the questioner refuses to look at in himself.

To know by what right love acts, a mind must be willing to know by what right it doubts. The answer is withheld only until the mind is ready to hear it, and that readiness is not granted from outside; it is chosen the moment the mind stops demanding proof and consents to see.

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Matthew 21:24 today

  1. When you catch yourself arguing with something in your head, a podcast, a post, a line in an email, pause and ask what it would cost you to be wrong about it. Sit with the answer for a second before you move on.
  2. In your next real conversation, hold off on the counterpoint you have ready. Ask one honest question instead, and let the other person's answer land before you decide what you think of it.
  3. When someone's tone or timing makes you want to demand who they think they are, turn it around first: ask yourself what in you is refusing to hear this. Then answer them from there.

What would I have to admit about myself before I could accept the answer I keep asking for?

The same truth in other traditions

Zen

A student who comes with a fist full of opinions has no hand free to receive anything. The teacher often answers with a question, because the real work is to turn the student's gaze back onto the one who is asking.

Tao Te Ching

Those who know do not need to prove it, and those who need to prove it do not yet know. Demanding credentials from the way is already a step away from it.

Stoicism · Epictetus

You cannot learn what you think you already have settled. Give up the assumption that you know, and only then is there room in you for something true.

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