All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others

Why answer a question with a question?

Matthew 9.14-17

Note from Christine: My computer hard drive failed—abruptly—how rude. So, I went dark for a while, without the opportunity of explanation. Maybe we all needed a break, eh? But I am back, right where we left off in Matthew chapter nine. Remember, you can always find my writings and podcasts—hundreds of them at www.pastorwoman.com. Please feel free to email me your friends’ contact info should you wish, as I regularly hear that many of you forward briefings to them. Similarly, should you wish to unsubscribe, let me know that as well.

Now let’s get back to Jesus—fascinating, compassionate, brilliant, charismatic, thought-provoking Jesus.

Why do people answer questions with questions? Ever thought about it? Yesterday, I asked that question of my manicurist, (whose further description includes Asian, Buddhist, soft-spoken, somewhat feminine, gentle, likable, and intelligent.) He thought for a moment, and said ‘I don’t know why people answer questions with questions, but well--I don’t really like it.’ ‘But why do you think they do it?’ I pressed him further. He smirked and said, ‘Because they are smart a----!’ I just smiled and asked another question, ‘Have you ever read the Bible?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you know much about Jesus?’ ‘Not at all,’ and his answer gave me to believe he did not care to know either. No matter, I continued just a bit, ‘Ya know, in spite of what you know or personally think about Jesus, he was a brilliant teacher. Jesus often answered a question with a question, and I have a theory about why that is so.’

In fact, Jews are known for answering questions with questions. Consider this rabbi’s thought: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkyzMWxK67U ;

Now we see John the Baptist’s disciples questioning Jesus:

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. John 9.14-15

There it was—Jesus answered their question with a question, one of about 183 recorded questions Jesus asked,2 and what he said seemed to have nothing to do with their question! (It is another passage that one could skip right over without even thinking about, right? Yet I believe that Jesus’ question redirected them to greater truth, and something he revealed about himself.)

My friends, understand that fasting—along with prayer and almsgiving, were the three greatest works of the religious lives of devout Jews.2 The question was not out of line, so Jesus lets them know that in short order, his disciples would indeed fast. But as the guests of a wedding celebration certainly do not fast while the bridegroom is present and the party underway, so too his disciples would not fast while their Bridegroom was with them.

Jesus understood the strange looks on their faces as lack of understanding as he taught them something new. So he used very familiar pictures to literally stretch the thinking of his listeners:

Jesus said, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Vs. 16-17

Jesus was saying, ‘With my coming, I have ushered in new ways of thinking, and you will have to expand your thinking to understand my teaching, to understand my ways.’

As for why I think that Jesus answered questions with questions—

Jesus wanted his answer to foster a conversation, and Jesus wanted further opportunity to build relationship with other people. I love that. Jesus used every chance to maximize opportunities for growth, intimacy and community. He wisely used questions to answer questions to do all three.

Christine
www.pastorwoman.com ;

1 – Mark Batterson, The Grave Robber

2 – William Barclay commentary on Matthew