Questions
The Bible is full of questions. Some answered. Some unanswered. Some rhetorical. Some ridiculous. Who do you say I am? Am I my brother’s keeper? Have you considered my servant Job? Did God really say…?
“Never ask a question that you don’t already know the answer” is an old troupe. Then again, asking questions is valuable in conversation and the exchange of information. Sometimes we do not understand the scope of our questions and become frustrated as more questions come to mind. Sometimes we just flat out ask the wrong question.
In my devotion, Take Inventory, one of the passages we looked at was from Luke 10, The Good Samaritan:
Just then, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “What do you read there?”
He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.”
He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite also happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. A Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he felt sorry for the man. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return.’ Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?”
“The one who showed mercy to him,” he replied.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010&version=EHV>
The lawyer opens with a question, Jesus replies with two questions of his own. The lawyer gives, as Jesus says, the correct answer. The lawyer (to justify himself) asks Jesus another question. Jesus then tells a parable and asks another question. (You may want to compare the paralle accounts in Matthew 22 and Mark 12.)
I ran across an interesting thought this past week: What if the lawyer asked the question not about the second greatest commandment, but asked it of the Greatest Commandment? Instead of “Who is my neighbor?” what if the question was, “Who is my God?” Would that change the tone of the conversation? Would Jesus give the answer to a similar question from John 10?: Jesus answered them, “I did tell you, but you do not believe.” (verse 25 EHV)
Idolatry is not only worshipping false gods, but also worshipping the True God in false ways. What does that look like? Good question! Read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges… and 59 more, just like those… Who is my God?
Jesus answered them, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I am doing in my Father’s name testify about me. But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+10&version=EHV>
But God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! He also raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He did this so that, in the coming ages, he might demonstrate the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2&version=EHV>
Go and do likewise.
Any questions?
Steve Skiver