08. Chapter 8: His Questions

Chapter8 His Questions Somehow at the beginning of this inquiry I sense that we are near the heart of the teaching methods of Jesus.

Recall now as many questions asked by Jesus as you can.

What are some of them? The four gospels record over one hundred different ones.

Here are some of them:

“How is it that ye sought me?”

“Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house?” (His first recorded words.)—Luke 2:49.

“What seek ye?”—John 1:38.

“Woman, what have I to do with thee?”—John 2:4.

“Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?”—John 3:10.

“If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?”—John 3:12 “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest”?—John 4:35.

“Why reason ye in your hearts? Which is easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk?” —Luke 5:22-23 .

“Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?”—Matthew 9:4.

“Wouldst thou be made whole?”—John 5:6.

“How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?”—John 5:44.

“But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”—John 5:47.

“Did ye never read what David did?”—Mark 2:25-26.

“Or, have ye not read in the law?”—Matthew 12:5.

“Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill?”—Mark 3:4.

“What man shall there be of you, that shall have one sheep?” etc.—Matthew 12:11.

“But if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?”—Matthew 5:13.

“For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye?”—Matthew 5:46-47.

“Is not the life more than the food?”

“Are not ye of much more value than they?”—Matthew 6:25-26.

“And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?”

“And why are ye anxious concerning raiment?”—Matthew 6:27-28.

“Shall he not much more clothe you?”—Matthew 6:30.

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye?” etc.—Matthew 7:3-4.

“Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf will give him a stone?”—Matthew 7:11.

“Do men gather grapes of thorns?”—Matthew 7:16.

“What went ye out into the wilderness to see?”—Matthew 11:7-9.

“But whereunto shall I liken this generation?”—Matthew 11:16.

“Which of them therefore will love him, most?”—Luke 7:42.

“Seest thou this woman?”—Luke 7:44.

“How can Satan cast out Satan?”—Mark 3:23.

“And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out?”—Matthew 12:27.

“Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, unless he first bind the strong man?”—Matthew 12:29.

“Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?”—Matthew 12:34.

“Who is my mother?”—Matthew 12:48. This list is drawn from approximately the first third of the ministry of Jesus. Would it not be worth your while to complete the list?

What are some of the general characteristics of the questions asked by Jesus? Answer for yourself first, and then read on.

“A leading question” is one the very form of which suggests the answer that is wanted, Did Jesus use the leading question? Do you chance to know whether Socrates made use of leading questions? In honor of Socrates, questioning is called “the Socratic art.”^[1]

[1] For a comparison of Jesus and Socrates as questioners, see the writer’s book on “Story Selling, Questioning, and Studying,’pp. 103-110. Is it better teaching to use or not to use the leading question?

Socrates regularly used a long series of leading questions to bring an idea to birth in the mind of his interlocutor. Did Jesus do this?

If you are interested in this topic, read Xenophon’s “Memorabilia” and compare it with Mark, and Plato’s

“Phaedo” and compare it with John. As Mark and John are related to Jesus, so roughly axe Xenophon and Plato related to Socrates. In each case we have a master teacher who spoke but did not write presented to us by two pupils, one prosaic and one poetic.

Take the following list of characteristics and find at least one question of Jesus illustrating it:

Original.

Practical.

Personal.

Rhetorical

Stimulating.

Definite.

Searching.

Adapted to the individual

Silencing.

Clear.

Brief.

How would you enlarge this list of the characteristics of the questions of Jesus?

Turn to the purpose of his questions. For what purposes did Jesus ask questions? Make your own list.

Find at least one question of Jesus used for each of the following purposes: To make one think. To secure information for himself (Luke 8:30). To express an emotion.

(What emotions are expressed? See John 3:10; Luke 5:22-23; Matthew 12:34.) To introduce a story. To follow up a story. To recall the known (Mark 2:25-26). To awaken conscience (Matthew 23:17). To elicit faith (Mark 8:29). To clarify the situation (Mark 10:3). To rebuke criticism (Mark 2:25-26). To put one in a dilemma (Mark 3:4).

Add to this list of purposes.

What are some of the psychological effects of the question? For example, how does a good question affect intelligence? interest? attention? memory? even conduct? To what other psychological effects would you refer?

There were certain questions asked by Jesus which his critics were unable or unwilling to answer. Can you recall some?

Among these were the following:

“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? to save a life or to destroy it? But they held their peace” (Luke 6:9).

“Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a Sabbath day? And they could not answer again unto these things” (Luke 14:5-6).

“The baptism of John, whence was it, from heaven or from men? . . . And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell” (Matthew 21:25-27).

“If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word” (Matthew 22:45-46).

Why did Jesus ask each of these questions? Can you think of others he asked they did not answer?

Why did they not answer in each case?

If they were unable to answer, why did not Jesus answer for them? Pay particular attention to this question. Study Luke 22:67.

How would you answer each of the questions the Jews did not answer—especially the one concerning David’s son? With what manner do you picture Jesus asking questions?

Earnest?

Sympathetic?

Inquisitorial?

Deliberate?

Reproving?

Spontaneous?

Any other manner?

Cite at least one question illustrating each of your answers. Do you think Jesus ever prepared any question in advance of using it? For example, that concerning the baptism of John, or the Christ as the son of David.

There was at least one question Jesus asked of God. What was it? See Mark 15:34.

How do you interpret this question?

What is its answer? Does the twenty-second psalm, from which it is a quotation, throw any light on the answer?

Jesus petitioned God for many things—did he ever ask any other question of God? From this study do you get the impression that the atmosphere of Jesus was lethargic, or charged with intellectual inquiry?

Choosing between these two things, would you say that Jesus came to ask questions or to answer them? Of course he came to do both, and did both, and many other things besides, but which of these two did he do mainly?

Read the following quotation from Dr. Merrill, and see if you agree with him:

“His aim, as the Great Teacher of men, was, and ever is, not to relieve the reason and conscience of mankind, not to lighten the burden of thought and study, but rather to increase that burden, to make men more conscientious, more eager, more active in mind and moral sense.

“That is to say, He came not to answer questions, but to ask them; not to settle men’s souls, but to provoke them; not to save men from problems, but to save them from their indolence; not to make life easier, but to make it more educative. We are quite in error when we think of Christ as coming to give us a key to life’s difficult textbook. He came to give us a finer textbook, calling for keener study, and deeper devotion, and more intelligent and persistent reasoning.”^[2] [2] W. P. Merrill, “Christian Internationalism,”pp. 42, 43.

One of the reputed sayings of Jesus is; “They who question shall reign.” Do you think it sounds like him? Or is it too consciously pedagogic or philosophic, as were the Greeks?

Francis Bacon said: ‘The skillful question is the half of knowledge.” Would you agree? Can the skillful question be asked without knowledge?

What would be a good badge of the teacher’s profession?

What other phase of the topic, “Jesus as Questioner,” would you like to consider?

How may we become better questioners?