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Matthew 22:16 · World English Bible

Matthew 22:16 Meaning They Sent Their Disciples to Him

They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.

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What does Matthew 22:16 mean?

The awakened teacher within a person cannot be flattered or trapped by the political and worldly faculties, the parts that serve outward power and try to bend inner truth to their advantage. The disciples of the letter join with the Herodians, the ambitions tied to earthly rule, and they praise the inner truth precisely in order to catch it.

From the Esoteric reading below.

Matthew 22:16 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

ESOTERIC

Esoteric

The awakened teacher within a person cannot be flattered or trapped by the political and worldly faculties, the parts that serve outward power and try to bend inner truth to their advantage. The disciples of the letter join with the Herodians, the ambitions tied to earthly rule, and they praise the inner truth precisely in order to catch it. Truth that regards no person is the impartial center inside, the awareness that does not weigh a man by his rank because it sees the same light in all.

The higher self teaches without partiality because it stands beneath appearance, and the lower faculties, unable to sway what wants nothing from them, resort to praise as a snare.

Herodians: the ambitions bound to worldly power inside a person, the faculties that serve earthly rule and status

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Esoteric lens

Live Matthew 22:16 today

  1. When something you posted or said gets a good reaction today, feel it and then set it down, rather than refreshing to collect more. The hunger that praise feeds is the same hunger criticism uses against you.
  2. Treat the person with no status in the room exactly as you treat the one with the most, in the meeting, in the checkout line, in the group chat. Your real character is visible only in the gap between those two.
  3. When someone compliments you right before asking for something, let the warm feeling pass through without paying for it. Flattery works by making refusal feel ungrateful.

How much of what I do today is aimed at being seen doing it?

The same truth in other traditions

Tao Te Ching

Favor and disgrace are the same hook with different bait. Being praised unsettles you exactly as much as being blamed, if you are living off either one.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

The opinion of the crowd is wind. Ask instead what the thing actually is, and whether it is yours to carry.

Bhagavad Gita

Act without leaning on the result or on the applause. The one who treats honor and insult the same way is the one who is actually free to act well.

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

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