But there was one thing that struck me about this text: the chief priest and elders asked Jesus a question.
We have many questions for Jesus and we don't always want to ask them or get to ask them. So I decided to ask my congregation what their questions are, which I have included in italics, and there were a lot of questions. The questions were asked by people ages 4 to 80 plus. Some light hearted, some profound. Some I laughed when they were asked, some my heart broke when they were asked. I will keep this list and refer to it and while I probably am not able to answer the questions, I hope in the future I will at least help people explore the answers for themselves. So what are your questions for Jesus?
Enjoy!
Our gospel starts with what could be a simple question posed to Jesus by the chief priest and the elders: “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”
But we all know that not all questions are asked purely to seek information. Yes you can ask questions solely out of curiosity “Why is the sky blue?” “What makes up light?” But you can also ask questions to inform someone “Did you know that the men of Bethlehem 6pm ?” And you can even ask questions to entrap someone. We do it all the time. “Did you do your homework?” “Did you eat the last piece of cake?” “Who took my stapler?” When we ask these questions, most often we know the answer, no you haven’t done your homework, yes you ate the cake even though I said I wanted it, I know you have my stapler even though I told you not to take things from my desk.
And occasionally when we ask these entrapment questions, no matter what the answer is we are ready to pounce.
This is the case for the elders and the chief priest. Really they didn’t need to hear the answer because no matter how Jesus answered the question they were ready to attack him. If he said God gave him the authority, they would have called him crazy or accuse him of blasphemy. But on the other hand if Jesus said that he performed miracles, healed the sick and drove out the money changers from the temple on his own authority, they would have accused him of being above the law. Either way, Jesus’ response would have gotten him into trouble with the law and possibly even put to death.
This is why Jesus avoids the question by asking a question of his own. If the elders and chief priest truly wanted to know who gave him the authority to drive money changers out of the temple, perform miracles and heal the sick, he would have answered it.
Questions are part of faith. We all have them. Questions about scripture, questions about the nature of God, questions about how to understand and practice our faith in our daily lives, at work, at home, when hanging out with friends, when running errands. Throughout the gospels people are asking Jesus questions, and most of the time he actually answers them.
So I’m going to give you an opportunity to write future sermons and possibly some bible studies. What are your questions? About faith, scripture, theology, the afterlife.
Why do horrible things happen?
Why do people hurt each other?
How do we understand scripture?
How are we to reconcile scripture with science and everything?
Who goes to heaven? How about animals?
How should we celebrate Jesus' birth and resurrection?
What is heaven like?
What is Jesus' favorite color?
Will we meet our loved ones in heaven?
Why does it often seem like evil "wins"?
Why does God allow so many innocent people to die on September 11, in war, etc?
How are we to tell tell others about Jesus?
Who goes to hell?
What is hell?
Can you get to heaven from hell and vice versa?
Why is there pain in the world and why do some people suffer so greatly before death?
Why do people look asleep when they are dead?
Why is there hell?
Why do some people think certain people will go to hell?
Why do we worry so much about heaven and hell instead of this earth?
When will the world end?
Will the world end? If so how?
Why is there doubt? Why do some people not believe?
Is there life on other planets?
What is Jesus' favorite denomination?
What does Jesus think about the church today?
Now I’m not going to answer them now, because well we would be here all day for one, and two I’m not prepared to answer these questions right now. But also I can’t answer these questions for you. I can tell you what I believe. I can tell you want the ELCA believes or at least where they lean on some of the answers. With some research, I can tell you want different theologians and religious leaders have said about the topic over history. But I cannot answer these questions for you.
Part of growing in your faith, maturing in understanding, is to explore these questions for yourself, for everyone on this planet has questions about faith. And Jesus invites us to ask them, as long as we are asking out of curiosity and not to entrap him. God has given us scripture and theologians and church bodies and religious leaders to help us explore these questions for ourselves. And when these human means are not enough, faith is relying on Jesus to help fill in the gaps and faith is what causes us to continue to ask questions.
And Jesus is calling us to help others ask the questions. To help others realize that church is not a place that you go when you have all the answers but a place you go when all you have is questions. We are called to help others ask their questions and also to point to Jesus for the answers.
For we do not need to know the answers for salvation, we just need to be willing to ask questions and look to Jesus for the answers.
No comments:
Post a Comment