Jesus is often thought of as giving answers but, actually, He is full of questions. Even as a boy, He was found sitting among the teachers in the temple asking them questions. ‘And all who heard Him were amazed’ (Luke 2:47).
In fact, Jesus is recorded as asking 307 questions in the Gospels. In contrast, he directly answers only three of the 183 questions he is asked. Just three. And on at least one occasion he does not know the answer to a question addressed to him (Mark 13:4a and 32).
Jesus asks questions that can be easily answered (Matthew 5:13) and questions with no obvious answer (Luke 18:19). And He answers questions with questions of His own, either to drive home a point (Luke 7:42) or to expose duplicity (Mark 12:14–15), or to get people thinking.
Mark 4: 35 – 41. Do you know what it’s like to be rebuked with a question? It’s certainly something that Jesus did with surprising frequency. And there’s a fascinating example of this in the calming of the storm. Jesus and His disciples are sailing across a lake after a full day of teaching, when […]
Luke 10:25–30, 36–37. What is the most uncomfortable question you’ve ever been asked? I doubt the expert in the law, a theologian, at the centre of this exchange with Jesus enjoyed being asked: ‘Which of the three was a neighbour to the man?’ It’s the theologian who starts the conversation by asking Jesus a question […]
Luke 8 : 42 – 48. It’s a puzzling question, but one that changes a woman’s life. ‘Who touched me?’ A crazy thing to ask in the circumstances surely, but Jesus wants an answer. Is it because He doesn’t know who has touched Him? Or does He want the woman to know that He knows […]