The questions Jesus answered—and asked—prompt our answers too
By Dean Collins
If you are going to ask a bad question, make sure you understand who you are asking.
Yes I’ve heard the same thing you’ve heard; there are no bad questions, but I’m not sure that is true. There are many variations of that statement about bad questions, so it is hard to track down who actually said it. I asked Google, but maybe I asked it wrong, because Google wasn’t sure. I got a variety of answers, including Ramon Bautista, Carl Sagan, Einstein, Confucius, and more.
We have all seen TV dramas and movies with the lawyer questioning the witness and receiving an objection from the opposing counsel: “You’re leading the witness!” Certain kinds of questions are not actually trying to gain information, but rather to trick or trap.
Many questions
If you pay attention when reading the Gospel of Matthew, you will notice Matthew includes many questions. I suspect the reason was to help us answer the same question the first-century Jew was asking: Is Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God?
The first question Matthew records was from the wise men: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” We are not told who they asked, but the record includes why they asked; they wanted to worship the Christ child. Herod learned of the question, and while we don’t know the whole conversation he had with the wise men, something tells me he asked some tricky questions to try and get them to reveal their discovery. His motives were murder more than understanding the mystery of God’s love.
The next question I found in Matthew is one Jesus asked fairly early in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after he called the listeners the salt of the earth he asked how the salt can be restored after it loses its flavor. Jesus knew the answer, and so did everyone else, I suspect. I think some questions are asked just to lead the audience to the obvious conclusion.
Jesus asked more questions later in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
“Are you not more valuable than they [that is, the birds we see every day]?”
“And which of you can make your life last longer by worrying?
Then Jesus asked the question about missing the log in your eye while pointing out the speck in somebody else’s. He knew the answer when he asked the question, and he left his listeners to answer it in their hearts. I must answer it, too, every time I read that verse.
We might also remember the question about who gives their kid a rock instead of bread when they’re hungry. And after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asked the disciples a question when they woke him from a nap in the boat: “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” We usually ask ourselves that question after the storm has passed. Why were we afraid?
Matthew records many questions Jesus asked those who seemed truly eager to learn from him and follow him. Matthew records other questions Jesus asked to the scribes and Pharisees, whose motives did not seem at all innocent, along with others to those with obvious needs like the sick and the poor.
Others’ questions
The Pharisees did not like the questions Jesus was asking, so they started peppering the disciples with questions about Jesus. It seems most of these questions came with a tone of judgment or suspicion. I think some might have seen the log in the Pharisees’ eyes when they asked the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
After John the Baptist was put in prison he began to wonder if he had misunderstood something about Jesus. Maybe he was wondering why Jesus hadn’t gotten him out of the mess he was in with Herod. John sent his question to Jesus by way of one of his disciples: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
Some of the questions Jesus asked the Pharisees tended to make them look bad. They did not like Jesus doing good on the Sabbath, a day they managed well with their rules about how Jews were to behave each Sabbath. Jesus had appropriately questioned the priorities of the self-appointed sheriffs of Sabbath. For example, Jesus asked, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?” If looks could kill, Jesus would have probably been dead on the spot.
Dueling questions
Sometimes Matthew records a duel of questions between the Pharisees and Jesus. Jesus always came out on top in those sparring matches. One day Pharisees asked him, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”
He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” Then Jesus reminded them of specific ways some Pharisees were not taking care of their aging parents after pocketing some money and then claiming they were giving it to the temple.
By the time we get to Passion Week, it is clear the questions of the religious leaders were meant to entrap Jesus. The chief priests and elders asked Jesus about his authority. Jesus agreed to answer them if they would do him the favor of answering his question. Was John acting on his own authority, or was he sent by God? The priests copped out and said, “We don’t know.” They knew their answer would be a problem with the locals. It was a problem with God, too, but they hadn’t yet figured that out.
Final questions
Sometimes when we read Scripture we have questions, too. It’s fun to do the research and find the answers that tell us what this word or that phrase means and how it fits into the narrative of Scripture. But as I think today about these questions in Matthew, I wonder if sometimes we read past some questions Jesus asked for the same reason the Pharisees did. We don’t want to think or act differently. We are too content with our preconceived way of thinking. To answer the questions Jesus asks might mean big changes. But we don’t want to change.
Eventually, Matthew tells us the Pharisees quit asking Jesus questions. “And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”
Matthew doesn’t include the post-resurrection story John records. The disciples were fishing when Jesus showed up on the beach and told them to cast their nets on the other side. Do you remember what is likely the last two questions Jesus asked before he ascended to heaven? Both questions were directed to Peter. Both questions are good questions for us as well. The first of the last was, “Do you love me?”
The very last question came after Jesus had told Peter hard days would come for him as he continued to serve Jesus. Peter then asked whether John would face a similar death.
“Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!’”
“…what is that to you…?”
If we decide to take Jesus seriously we will have to answer his questions. He will never leave or forsake us if we simply have the faith and the courage to answer him.
Your time with God’s Word
Matthew 21:23-32 ESV
Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash
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