Matthew 27:20 · World English Bible
Matthew 27:20 Meaning Now the Chief Priests and the Elders
Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
What does Matthew 27:20 mean?
The entrenched powers of the lower mind sway the crowd of a person's thoughts to choose the coarse self and put the higher self to death. The chief priests and elders are the hardened, self-serving faculties of the ruling ego, long established and defending their place, and the multitude is the mass of ordinary impressions easily turned by them.
From the Esoteric reading below.
Matthew 27:20 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Esoteric
ESOTERIC
Esoteric
The entrenched powers of the lower mind sway the crowd of a person's thoughts to choose the coarse self and put the higher self to death. The chief priests and elders are the hardened, self-serving faculties of the ruling ego, long established and defending their place, and the multitude is the mass of ordinary impressions easily turned by them. Barabbas, whose name carries the sense of son of the father, is the counterfeit self, the outward and lower man the crowd embraces in place of the true inner son. Choosing him and destroying the Christ is the inward act by which a person, pressed by his own governing habits, prefers the familiar surface identity and suppresses the awakening within.
This is not a courtroom in a distant city. It is the moment inside a man when the established mind, threatened by the higher life, rallies every loose thought to keep the lower self on the throne.
The chief priests and elders: the hardened, self-serving faculties of the ruling ego, defending their long-held place. The multitude: the mass of ordinary impressions, swayed by whichever power addresses them. Barabbas: the counterfeit son, the coarse outer self chosen in place of the true inner Christ.
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Live Matthew 27:20 today
- When the familiar pull comes tonight, the same scroll, the same drink, the same hour lost, name it as a habit with an interest in winning rather than as what you want. Then pick the smaller, quieter thing instead.
- In a group chat or at the family table where everyone is sliding toward the easy, meaner version of a story, be the one voice that does not add to it. You do not have to lecture, you just have to not join.
- When you are tired and a decision comes up at work, hold off on the choice that only looks right because it is what you always do. Give the better option sixty seconds of honest air before you dismiss it.
Which voice in me today sounded most like me, and was it telling the truth?
The same truth in other traditions
Bhagavad Gita 6
The mind is the friend of the one who has mastered it and the enemy of the one who has not. The same faculty that could lift you is the one voting to keep you where you are.
Stoicism · Epictetus
It is not the crowd that decides for you, it is the opinion in you that goes along with the crowd. Your own agreement is the only vote that counts, and it is the one you keep giving away.
Buddhism
The habits you have fed the longest speak the loudest and sound the most like you. Familiarity is not the same as truth, and the voice you know best is often just the one you have rehearsed most.
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