Ancient but always so new

Jesus had gone into the Temple and was teaching, when the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him and said, ‘What authority have you for acting like this? And who gave you this authority?’ ‘And I’ replied Jesus ‘will ask you a question, only one; if you tell me the answer to it, I will then tell you my authority for acting like this. John’s baptism: where did it come from: heaven or man?’ And they argued it out this way among themselves, ‘If we say from heaven, he will retort, “Then why did you refuse to believe him?”; but if we say from man, we have the people to fear, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ So their reply to Jesus was, ‘We do not know.’ And he retorted, ‘Nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this.’ (Matthew 21, 23-27)

For the proclamation of the Gospel to be fruitful, the listener must not hold prejudices. Jesus' interlocutors are not sincerely seeking the truth, but are attempting to find a way to confirm their negative opinions about Him. Jesus refuses to answer them, since the Son of God does not reveal Himself to those who hold prejudices against the evangelical announcement. And what about you, when you listen to the Gospel, do you think it has nothing to say to you because "you already know everything"? Or do you commit yourself each time to understand, without prejudice, the Word of God, which is so ancient, but always so new and contemporary?