href="#ulink_8f0841ab-4f5e-5b45-923c-3ebec71d17ad">1. Wiesel, Night, 13–14.
2. Quoted in The Family Networker, 13, 30.
3. Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie, 64–65.
4. Ibid., 124–25.
5. Michaels and Willwerth, “How America Has Run Out of Time,” 48–56.
6. Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie, 136.
7. Quoted by Griffin, Follow the Ecstasy, 37–38.
8. Nouwen, Making All Things New, 23–24.
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Questions in the New Testament
“There is always music among the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be quiet to hear it.”
—Minnie Aumonier
It’s amazing to see how many questions there are in the New Testament. Sometimes, it is Jesus asking the questions; sometimes other people. Jesus was a master of using questions to invite people to grow. What are you looking for? Do you want to get well? Do you love me? The New Testament is full of them.
A. Wrong Questions in the New Testament
There are some questions in the New Testament that are not about growing but are wrong questions because they are asked for some tricky or devious reasons, or simply because they emphasize the wrong things. For example, in Luke’s Gospel, (20: 27–28), the Sadducees are asking Jesus questions that probe into the mysteries of the resurrection—something in which the Sadducees did not even believe, with their very narrow reading and interpretation of scripture. Their questions are not meant to discover anything or lead to any kind of growth. Rather, they are just meant to test Jesus, to trip him up. They ask what will happen in the resurrection to a woman who has been married to seven different brothers. Whose wife will she be then? Jesus responds first by explaining about life in this age and life in the resurrection, what the differences are and ultimately why the question is irrelevant. He exposes the real nature of their question. There is no right answer to a wrong question.
Or, what about the time the scribes and chief priests tried to trick Jesus by waiting for their opportunity to send agents to pose as men devoted to the Law. They wanted to fasten on to something he might say to enable them to hand Jesus over to the jurisdiction and authority of the Governor. Wanting to look good and appear knowledgeable, they put this question to him, “Master, we know that you say and teach what is right; you favor no one, but teach the way of God in all honesty. Is it permissible for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus was aware of their cunning and said, “show me a denarius. Whose head and name are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they said. “Well then, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar—and to God what belongs to God.” As a result, they were unable to find fault with anything he had to say in public. His answer took them by surprise and they were silenced (Luke 20: 20–26).
Another way that Jesus answered a wrong question was by asking a question himself. One day when he was teaching in the Temple and proclaiming the Good News, the chief priests and the scribes came up, together with the elders, and spoke to him. “Tell us,” they said, “what authority have you for acting like this?” “And I,” Jesus replied, “will ask you a question. Tell me: John’s baptism: did it come from heaven, or from man?” After the chief priests and scribes discussed this among themselves, they were unable to agree upon an answer. And so Jesus said to them, “nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this” (Luke 20: 1–8).
There are also questions in the New Testament that not only do not lead to growth but they totally miss the point because they emphasize the wrong things. This happened to Jesus and his disciples one sabbath as they walked through a corn field picking and eating ears of corn. This time it was the Pharisees who came up and said, “why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?” Jesus answered them, “so you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry—how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?” And he said to them, the Son of Man is master of the sabbath” (Luke 6: 1–5).
One final example of a wrong question occurred during the Passion when Jesus was brought before Herod. Herod was delighted to see Jesus because he had heard a great deal about him and had been wanting to see him for a long time. Moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle worked by him. So, Herod questioned him at some length but without ever getting a reply (Luke 23: 8–10). Herod is the only person in the New Testament that Jesus never spoke to. Some questions don’t even deserve a reply!
B. Right Questions in the New Testament
Contrary to these kinds of devious questions that don’t lead to anything good, there are many questions in the New Testament that are positive and give life. These kinds of right questions lead to growth and can impact our lives in many positive ways.
Among all the questions we find in the New Testament, there are three “right questions” about life that are especially formative for our spiritual and psychological growth. Interestingly enough, we have read or heard them all many times.
1. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
There was a lawyer who, to disconcert him, stood up and said to him, “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Answering with a question himself, Jesus asked him, “what is written in the Law? What do you read there?” He replied, “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. You have answered right,” Jesus said, “do this and life is yours” (Luke 10: 25–28).
This is such an important question because it gives purpose and direction to our lives. It fundamentally orients us to live our lives in a certain way. It helps us to understand that the goal of this life is essentially to gain eternal life, and the answer to this formative right question gives us a blueprint for doing so. When we understand the importance of this question, it will influence everything we do in life both personally and professionally. It gives us a mindset, a source of constant reflection.
In over thirty years of working as a psychotherapist, I have seen so many people who don’t have a direction and purpose to their lives. They are tossed around in life like a ship on the ocean, and this often leads to poor decisions and emotional stress. Several years ago, Rick Warren wrote a best selling book entitled The Purpose Driven Life in which he talks about the importance of living a life with purpose and direction and the positive impact that this can have on people. If we can answer this important right question—“what must I do to inherit eternal life?”—with the words of Jesus, “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself,” we will find that everything we do in life will have purpose and meaning and ultimately lead us to eternal life.
2. Who is my neighbor?
In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 29–37), a man asks another
