5 Minute Meditation - On Defending Our Position in Pride

Into the Brambles: March 31, 2026

Scripture of the Day

When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”

And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.”

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Mt 21:23–27

Reflection for the Coming Day

As I studied the overarching narrative of scripture in seminary, what became overwhelmingly evident to me and my classmates was how easy it is to read scripture with modern eyes that look for the good guys and bad guys.

And what do we do when we think we have that figured out? We almost instinctively align ourselves with the good guys. Because we see ourselves, and our motives, as ultimately seeking the good while holding a bias that others should be judged by their actions and not their internal motives.

We live in an age of division. We like to believe that we are free-thinking, but there may not be a period of history in all of human kind where our opinions and arguments have been more fully spoon fed to us than today. I am not immune, and neither are you.