Whatever good work you begin to do, beg of God with most fervent prayer to perfect it,” to bring it to completion. (Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue)
God of all creation, through your wisdom and goodness help me to write a short essay on the questions of Jesus. Long have I wanted to write on Jesus’ questions, because he is a master-questioner, and his questions deserve to be pondered. LORD, by your Spirit, assist me in this effort to help your beloved people to seek You and to find their true life in You. Amen.
God of all creation, through your wisdom and goodness help me to write a short essay on the questions of Jesus. Long have I wanted to write on Jesus’ questions, because he is a master-questioner, and his questions deserve to be pondered. LORD, by your Spirit, assist me in this effort to help your beloved people to seek You and to find their true life in You. Amen.
First, LORD, how shall I present the questions? They are embedded in the context of our four canonical Gospels. It would not make sense to reproduce the entire Gospels, highlighting the questions. If I just list the questions, some of them may not be understood well, because one would need to know the context for the question. Other questions, although embedded in particular stories or narrative by the evangelists, seem to be able to speak for themselves, and may be lifted from their Gospel contexts without distorting them. Should I not concentrate on these questions first--the ones that speak to the heart even when the original context in a particular Gospel is not so well known or remembered?
Jesus is a master story-teller, as virtually every Christian and some non-Christians know. His parables, often rooted in his rich Jewish story-telling tradition, communicate the wisdom and transforming love of God to the hearers--or at least to those who reflect on the parables, who “ponder these things in their hearts.” Millions of people are familiar with the parable of the prodigal son, with the parable of the good Samaritan, with the short but rich parable of the man searching for fine pearls. The meanings of such stories are so rich that I truly believe one could keep reflecting on any of these parables, and not exhaust its meaning. For the parables are rooted in God, in the divine mystery itself, and there is no limit, no boundary, no end to the living God. The parables bring the responsive hearer under the Reign of God.
Jesus is also a master questioner, although I have rarely encountered someone who seems to be aware of this truth. It is not only his stories that recur in my mind, but his probing questions. Apparently Jesus asked these questions, they reverberated in the hearts of his disciples, and the evangelists preserved them. Or perhaps the risen LORD, radiating his wisdom in the heart of an evangelist, moved the writer to ask these searching questions for the benefit of readers throughout the centuries. In any case, the questions of Christ are a wonderful gift, and a gift made increasingly precious as the questions receive a sound hearing in the hearts and minds of the faithful. Or even in the minds of unbelievers, for the questions of Jesus Christ are penetrating, often containing a power to turn our souls around and help us to reorient ourselves to the true and living God--if we will but attend. Christ’s questions open the responsive heart to the Presence of God.
Now, how to present the questions of Jesus to benefit the reader? LORD, help! And thank you for assisting by your indwelling Spirit.
***
Part I: Questions that emerge in consciousness without reviewing the Gospels
As a beginning, I shall allow the questions of Jesus that remain alive in my soul (consciousness) come to light, list them, and then give brief comments on their meaning, consider why they would remain active in my spiritual life, and suggest their relevance to the faithful. I list them in the order they come to consciousness now:
1. “What are you seeking?” The first words of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel.
2. “Who do you say that I am?” The Great Question of Jesus that serves as the center around which St. Mark unfolds his Gospel, climaxing in the death-Resurrection of Christ.
3. “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
4. “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you seeking?” Jesus to Mary Magdalene in the Garden.
5. “Now, which one did the will of his father?” Parable of two sons, one gave lip service, one acted.
6. “Simon, son of John, do you love me [more than these]?” The Resurrected to Peter.
7. “If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things” (Jesus to Nicodemus)
8. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
9. “What were you discussing along the way?” Jesus to the Twelve, quibbling about who of them was the greatest.
10. “How long has he been like this?” Jesus asks a father about his son, who is very ill
11. “Why did you strike me?” In at least one Synoptic Gospel, Jesus before the Jewish authorities.
12. “Whom are you seeking?” In St. John’s Gospel, the Garden of Gethsemane
13. “What would it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his soul??
14. “What can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
15. “Did you not know that I had to be about my Father’s business?”
16. “Woman, what have I to do with you? My hours has not yet come.”
17. “What would you have me do for you?”
18. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Jesus to Paul in the Acts
19. “Will you abandon me also?” Jesus to the Twelve at the end of the Bread of Life discourse, Jn 6.
20. “I AM the Resurrection and the Life....Do you believe this?” Jesus to Martha, John 11.
21. “What does the Law say? How do you read?”
22. “Now, which one proved neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?”
23. “Do you say this on your own, or has some one told you about me?”
24. “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? Do you not know that whoever has seen me has seen the Father?” St. John, chapter 14.
25. “...If I had not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”
26. “What father among you would give his son a snake if he asks for bread?”
27. “Do you not know that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
28. “When we fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of bread did you pick up? And when we fed the five thousand, how many...?”
29. “Do you still not understand?”
30. “Are there not twelve hours for work?”
31. “If the blind leads the blind, will they not both fall into a pit?”
32. “If you can? If you have faith like a mustard seed...”
33. “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?”
34. “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” (holding the coin of Caesar)
35. “First I will ask you a question. John’s baptism: Was it of God, or of human origin?”
36. “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God.”
37. “Do you understand these things?” “Yes.” “Then blessed are you if you do them.”
38. “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”
39. “Who has the greater sin?”
40. “Do you believe because I said, `I saw you under the fig tree’? I tell you, you will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (Jn 1)
41. “What is it to you if.... You follow me” (Jn 21)
42. “Who touched me?”
43. “Will you, Simon? Before the cook crows twice, you will deny that you know me thrice.”
44. “Who do the people say that I am?”
45. “Who are my mother and brothers and sisters? Whoever does the will of my Father ...”
46. “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
47. “Which is easier: to say, `Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, `Rise, take up your mat, and walk’”?
48. “Do you think that they were worse sinners because the tower fell on them?”
49. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
50. “Do you think that I have come for peace? No, I tell you, for division..."
Part I: Questions that emerge in consciousness without reviewing the Gospels
As a beginning, I shall allow the questions of Jesus that remain alive in my soul (consciousness) come to light, list them, and then give brief comments on their meaning, consider why they would remain active in my spiritual life, and suggest their relevance to the faithful. I list them in the order they come to consciousness now:
1. “What are you seeking?” The first words of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel.
2. “Who do you say that I am?” The Great Question of Jesus that serves as the center around which St. Mark unfolds his Gospel, climaxing in the death-Resurrection of Christ.
3. “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
4. “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you seeking?” Jesus to Mary Magdalene in the Garden.
5. “Now, which one did the will of his father?” Parable of two sons, one gave lip service, one acted.
6. “Simon, son of John, do you love me [more than these]?” The Resurrected to Peter.
7. “If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things” (Jesus to Nicodemus)
8. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
9. “What were you discussing along the way?” Jesus to the Twelve, quibbling about who of them was the greatest.
10. “How long has he been like this?” Jesus asks a father about his son, who is very ill
11. “Why did you strike me?” In at least one Synoptic Gospel, Jesus before the Jewish authorities.
12. “Whom are you seeking?” In St. John’s Gospel, the Garden of Gethsemane
13. “What would it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his soul??
14. “What can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
15. “Did you not know that I had to be about my Father’s business?”
16. “Woman, what have I to do with you? My hours has not yet come.”
17. “What would you have me do for you?”
18. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Jesus to Paul in the Acts
19. “Will you abandon me also?” Jesus to the Twelve at the end of the Bread of Life discourse, Jn 6.
20. “I AM the Resurrection and the Life....Do you believe this?” Jesus to Martha, John 11.
21. “What does the Law say? How do you read?”
22. “Now, which one proved neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?”
23. “Do you say this on your own, or has some one told you about me?”
24. “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? Do you not know that whoever has seen me has seen the Father?” St. John, chapter 14.
25. “...If I had not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”
26. “What father among you would give his son a snake if he asks for bread?”
27. “Do you not know that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
28. “When we fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of bread did you pick up? And when we fed the five thousand, how many...?”
29. “Do you still not understand?”
30. “Are there not twelve hours for work?”
31. “If the blind leads the blind, will they not both fall into a pit?”
32. “If you can? If you have faith like a mustard seed...”
33. “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?”
34. “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” (holding the coin of Caesar)
35. “First I will ask you a question. John’s baptism: Was it of God, or of human origin?”
36. “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God.”
37. “Do you understand these things?” “Yes.” “Then blessed are you if you do them.”
38. “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”
39. “Who has the greater sin?”
40. “Do you believe because I said, `I saw you under the fig tree’? I tell you, you will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (Jn 1)
41. “What is it to you if.... You follow me” (Jn 21)
42. “Who touched me?”
43. “Will you, Simon? Before the cook crows twice, you will deny that you know me thrice.”
44. “Who do the people say that I am?”
45. “Who are my mother and brothers and sisters? Whoever does the will of my Father ...”
46. “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
47. “Which is easier: to say, `Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, `Rise, take up your mat, and walk’”?
48. “Do you think that they were worse sinners because the tower fell on them?”
49. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
50. “Do you think that I have come for peace? No, I tell you, for division..."
