a story? Did Jesus ask questions for the same reasons we ask them? Or is there more behind the questions of Jesus than meets the eye?
Jesus knew the hearts of man as only a Divine One can. His omniscience, his knowledge of the thoughts of those to whom he directed his questions – are characteristics that can never be duplicated by any mortal man.
The questions Jesus asked capture his thoughts about his own ministry, teachings, and dealings with both man and God. His ability to ask the right question at the right moment for the right need will be unmatched by anyone. His questions can only be mimicked in a crude fashion. His skill in crafting a question to pierce the heart, to quicken the thoughts, to convict the conscience, to elicit faith – those are abilities that are only occasionally, if ever, stumbled upon in the discourse between men. His questions were truly unique because Jesus was unique. They are uncommon questions from an extraordinary Savior.
The Premise:
(upon which this book is written)
Jesus never asked a question because
he needed to know the answer
“The one who asks questions doesn’t lose his way.”
African Proverb
Part I:
The Journey Begins
1
Where Can I Find Jesus?
The Question of Discovery
Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
~Luke 2:41-51
Taylor Touchstone, an autistic twelve year old, was missing. His parents were wild with worry. Neighbors, friends and officials searched for four days until they found him naked and hungry in a swamp fourteen miles from where he disappeared. He was hospitalized in good condition: a story with a happy ending.
You read about it all the time. A child lost; a parent concerned. The community rallies together. The child is found; the parent is relieved.
It’s never that simple, though. All the words in the world can’t capture what a parent feels during those moments when his or her own child is lost. Mary, who alone does the talking, asks her son – the Son – the question only a concerned parent can ask. “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me ... Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” Scripture records these as the first questions Jesus asked. The story is fairly straightforward. Mary and Joseph can’t find Jesus. They look high and low throughout Jerusalem, only to discover that the whole time Jesus was at the temple sitting, listening, asking, and answering.
JEN IS IN BIG TROUBLE!
When I was eleven years old, my family moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. On moving day, the moving people came to pack and load all our belongings.
When you were growing up, do you remember being around your parents when a sibling disappeared into thin air? You know – suddenly was nowhere to be found? I grew up with five brothers and sisters, so more times than I can remember we all ran around the neighborhood looking for one of my siblings who seemed to vanish. At some point, one of my parents – usually my mom – always said something to the effect that when we found whoever it was that had magically disappeared, they were in Big Trouble. Of course, that always made me wonder if there was an advantage in staying lost. Being in Big Trouble meant they would be glad to find us, but not so overjoyed that they wouldn’t spank us for getting lost in the first place!
Which brings me back to our move to Pennsylvania. When the moving truck was nearly loaded, my parents discovered that my youngest sister, Jen, was missing. My mom announced – to no surprise of those drafted to the newly formed Search Party – that when we found my sister, she would be in Big Trouble.
We eventually found Jen in her bedroom, asleep in her closet, on a shelf. By then my parents didn’t have the heart to wake her and spank her.
Now, I’m making light of a serious situation, but at the time, no one laughed. Everyone was running around and everyone was serious.
“Why have you treated us like this?” Jesus’ mother asks. Was she anxious? Of course. Was she upset? Better believe it. Was she laughing? No way!
Note the enormous contrast between his parents’ great concern for him, and Jesus’ lack of concern for them. Jesus – in a reversal he will use many times again in the Gospels – answers Mary’s question with a question. Not just one, but two. “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”
One truth I discovered as I studied the questions of Jesus is this: Jesus never asked a question because he needed to know the answer. In other words, not once did Jesus ask a question because he needed to know the answer. This principle is at the heart of understanding Jesus’ questions.
Jesus’ use of questions emphasized inward change. What do I mean? Jesus’ questions were designed to effect change in the hearer. In other words, Jesus was asking the question entirely for the benefit of the listener.
Jesus never asked a question because he needed to know the answer.
HAND-HELD GAMES & BULLDOZERS
If I suddenly discovered while driving back home from Wal-Mart that I left my son Christian behind, I would turn the car around and go back to look for him.
Where would I look for him first? The electronics section. If I lost Chase, the first place I’d look for him would be the truck aisle.
Why?
Because I know my children.
A proper understanding of where to find Jesus begins with understanding who he is.
If anyone should have understood, Mary and Joseph should have. Couldn’t they recall the visits by angelic hosts just twelve years before?3 Didn’t they remember the Magi bearing gifts for the Christ-Child?4 Was the divine protection from Herod’s sword so soon forgotten?5
A proper understanding of where to find Jesus begins with understanding who he is.
But Luke tells us they didn’t understand. Why didn’t they understand? Why didn’t they know where to find Jesus? Because they didn’t understand who he was!
The temple was the last place they looked. Why? Because they did not yet completely understand who he was. His questioning of them – “Why ... Didn’t you know?” – implies they should have understood who he was. “But they did not understand what he was saying to them,” Luke tells his readers.
That may sound a little harsh. Perhaps we’re more comfortable with saying they lost sight of who he was. But the truth is – just as with you and me – Mary and Joseph needed a personal encounter with the promised Messiah, Truth Personified. They were not exempt from needing salvation and the understanding that