You ask a lot of questions!

Have you ever thought about why questions are used as a teaching tool? Sure, there’s the obvious review of knowledge shared but, even more, questions can be a great way to get students thinking outside the obvious and the comfortable. We live in a generation of information overload, and research has been reduced at times to just knowing where to find the info and less about setting ourselves up for deeper thinking.

Jesus used questions a lot as He interacted with people. Someone would ask Him a question but, instead of coming back with a direct answer, he directed the discussion with another question. In Luke 18, a ‘certain ruler’ asked Jesus: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Before Jesus got to the heart of the matter, He shot back with, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good – except God alone.”

At the Last Supper, as the disciples quibbled about who was the worst and then who was the best, Jesus framed the issue: “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27).

Even in the garden, after His resurrection, Jesus addressed Mary Magdalene with questions: “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” (John 20:15). Good grief! Couldn’t He have eased her pain immediately by identifying Himself? Why was it so important for her to come to the realization that He was Jesus instead of pointing it out for her?

I was a journalism major in college (LSU! Go Tigers!) and, during this time, was introduced to the art of asking questions: Who? What? When? Why? Where? How? One thing that I have found in all the years between then and now is that I have a lot more questions than I have answers. But that’s not all bad. As a matter of fact, it’s got me trusting God to fill in the blanks and allowing Him to gently (and sometimes not-so-gently) direct me to His perfect ways, rather than my limited plans.

What questions have you heard from Jesus lately? Is He shaking you out of the status quo? Redirecting your study plans? Challenging you to see the world through His eyes? Receive His questions. Ask some of your own right back. And then see where the process leads. It could put you feeding the homeless in inner-city New Orleans or heading to Africa to work in an orphanage or studying Greek for more semesters than you’ve even studied English.

My prayer is that the questions don’t become an end in themselves. But, instead, may they direct you into a deeper relationship with the One who truly is the Answer!