August 3, Matthew 22
Did you ever play the game called “20 Questions” when you were growing up? Have you answered the incessant questions of a preschool child? Have you sat in the tiny interview room on the Bloodmobile and answered dozens of questions about places you may have been and things you may have done that would disqualify you as a donor? Have you ever watched a presidential press conference and seen how the reporters pepper the president with questions? Has anyone ever tried to embarrass you by asking sensitive questions in inappropriate contexts? Have you ever been interrogated by an authority figure about your role in some situation? Are you tired of me asking questions yet?
During the last week of Jesus’ life before the cross, it seems he had lots of questions posed to him by the religious leaders who hated him, feared him, wanted him discredited, wanted him dead.
Questions are good and appropriate in many situations. In the classroom or laboratory, questions are tools for exploring the unknown and gaining information. Questions can work like that in the spiritual realm, too. We learn by asking questions and seeking answers. But not all questions are quests for knowledge. Jesus’ enemies and critics were not honorable in their
intentions or honest in their inquiries when they confronted him with their queries. They wanted to entangle him in his talk, to pose a question that would force Jesus to say something they could use to accuse him.
When humans dare engage God in a match of questions, it is of necessity a mismatch. Creator versus creature will never be a level playing field. Remember how Job wanted to ask God some questions? Remember how the interview went when God asked the questions and Job ended up putting his hand over his mouth in silent shame? The Pharisees and Sadducees had rejected Jesus. Their lack of regard for him is clear in their tactics. But his answers to their malicious questions testified that he really was who they would not admit he was.
I do not believe Jesus’ unanswerable questions back to his inquisitors were designed to destroy them, but they were intended to expose their hypocrisy and show them they were out of their league when they opposed him. They stopped
asking questions when he succinctly answered theirs and they were unable to answer his.
What should we take away from this account of questions and answers? I hope you do not think we should never ask questions. An honest, well-framed question is a great way to learn. I suggest we should be very careful of our motives when we ask questions. Are we avoiding the obvious, or resisting what we already know to be true? And when we find a question from the Lord, I suggest we ponder it carefully, realizing that his questions are designed to accomplish his purpose of leading us away from self-reliance and drawing us to himself.
From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly Guide
for Your Journey Through the New Testament,
Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—August 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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