The gift of counsel or sacred listening is one of the lesser-known gifts in the Bible, and in the New Testament, there are two instances of Jesus resolving problems with this gift. This gift also has a special importance for Bible scholars; this gift is the demonstration that the origin of ethics is God.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke recount that Jesus, after his messianic entry into the city of Jerusalem, was confronted by spies sent by Pharisees. Seeking to deceive Jesus, they mistakenly asked him if it was permissible to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus escaped the trap through the gift of counsel, as recounted in the synoptic Gospels.
Following this teaching, there is a second case of the gift of counsel, which is the case of the adulterous woman, which is only narrated in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John relates that Jesus was in the temple in Jerusalem, and there the Pharisees and doctors of the law brought a woman to him and said: "Teacher, this woman was caught sleeping with a man who isn't her husband. The Law of Moses teaches that a woman like this should be stoned to death! What do you say?" John 8:4-5.
To which Jesus replied: "If any of you have never sinned, then go ahead and throw the first stone at her!" John 8:7. With this answer, Jesus saved the woman's life, and so when she was left alone with Jesus, the divine teacher asked her not to sin anymore.
The gift of counsel, also called sacred listening and exact justice by Aristotle, is a way of emulating God; that is, it is a way of resolving what is presented for judgment as God in person, and in this sense, counsel surpasses the cardinal virtue of prudence. Furthermore, the gift of counsel is precision and accuracy; that is, the purpose of this gift is to find the truth. And this is one of the fundamental reasons why the divine master affirmed that he is the way, the truth, and the life in John 14:6.
This spiritual gift shown by Jesus in these two practical cases is only present in people filled with the Holy Spirit, because the spirit of wisdom is the spiritual guide and inner teacher of every Christian baptized in the name of Jesus.
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