Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
The way you answer questions reveals more than you might think. If God knows everything, why does He ask questions? The gospel writers recorded more than 300 questions Jesus asked. What can we learn about God through the questions Jesus asked the religious leaders, the crowds, and His disciples? Shanda walks through the different question types, and takes you back to the very first question ever recorded in the Bible. The questions God asks reveals something about who He is and the relationship He offers to the people He created. You’ll never think of questions the same again!
Recommended Resources:
Cross Examined Article: Is Teaching Your Kids About God Child Abuse?
Website: shandafulbright.com
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Email: hello@shandafulbright.com
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Instead of just talking about the gospels today, I want to talk about something in the gospels that caught my attention over the years and I finally dug deeper into it so I could better understand.
It’s why God asks questions.
If you just read the gospels, you will see that Jesus asked a lot of questions. And if Jesus is God and knows everything, doesn’t asking questions show that He doesn’t know everything and has a lack, and therefore is not God? We’re going to talk about all of that today and I think you’re going to find this topic fascinating. In fact, I know you will.
Before we get into the episode, if you’re going to the WIA conference in September, you can use the discount code of WIASPSR24 for $10 off your ticket. I will be there running our booth with curriculum and I hope to see you there. You can go to their website: womeninapologetics.com to register.
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Today, we’re going to talk about:
- The gospels
- The purpose of questions
- Why did Jesus ask questions?
The Gospels
The gospels are all about the life of Jesus Christ. There are four of them: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus. Luke was a historian and interviewed those who followed Jesus. Mark was Peter’s disciple and is said to have written the gospel according to Peter.
I think it would be easier to go gospel by gospel so that it doesn’t get confusing. But like I said, you can look up a study bible or Got Questions to see how the gospels compare with each other. What I want to do is show you the questions Jesus asks in each of these gospels and how the authors recorded them. It’s really fascinating, in my opinion, and we’ll get to that soon.
Matthew
Matthew was once a tax collector. A tax collector in the first century was basically a thief who took more than was necessary. If you remember Zacchaeus, you get some insight to what people thought of tax collectors and when he said he’d pay it all back and then some, you get insight into why people hated them.
Matthew focused on Jewish perspective in his gospel because most Jewish people were converting to Christianity. Remember, when Christ rose from the dead, the church was born and a new religion was born – Christianity. So people left Judaism for Christianity if they accepted Christ. Those who didn’t stayed in Judaism.
The gospel was written early – around AD 55-65. All of the gospels were known to be written between 15-40 years after Christ’s resurrection. Matthew’s gospel is first in the New Testament, but it wasn’t the first gospel to be written.
The purpose of Matthew’s gospel is also evangelistic – he’s making the case that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
I like how Got Questions explains this: “As a tax collector, Matthew possessed a skill that makes his writing all the more exciting for Christians. Tax collectors were expected to be able to write in a form of shorthand, which essentially meant that Matthew could record a person’s words as they spoke, word for word. This ability means that the words of Matthew are not only inspired by the Holy Spirit, but should represent an actual transcript of some of Christ’s sermons. For example, the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in chapters 5-7, is almost certainly a perfect recording of that great message.”
Mark
Mark is known to be a disciple of Peter and wrote the gospel based on Peter’s eyewitness account. J Warner Wallace goes into more depth on the evidence for Mark as the author according to Peter in his book Cold Case Christianity. Paul also knew mark as well as Barnabas, and he is the reason for this dispute and split in Acts 15.
It is worthy to note that all of the NT documents are written by companions or close companions of the eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
It is believed that his is the first book written – around AD 55-59. Mark’s purpose is to strengthen the faith of the Gentile church, specifically those in Rome.
Got Questions says this: “Because Mark’s intended audience was the Gentiles, he does not quote as frequently from the Old Testament as Matthew, who was writing primarily to the Jews. He does not begin with a genealogy to link Jesus with the Jewish patriarchs, but begins instead with His baptism, the beginning of His earthly ministry. But even there, Mark quotes from an Old Testament prophecy regarding the messenger—John the Baptist—who would exhort the people to “prepare the way for the Lord” (Mark 1:3; Isaiah 40:3) as they awaited the coming of their Messiah.”
Luke
Luke was not a disciple of Christ. He was a historian who also wrote the book of Acts. Luke addresses his letter to the most excellent Theopholis – who we don’t really know who he is referring to, maybe some sort of official in Rome.
Luke is not a Jew. He is the only Gentile to have written any of the books in the Bible. He was a physician – and he wrote very detailed information that included names, locations, times – exactly what you’d expect from someone who wanted to preserve the import details.
Date: the gospel of Luke was likely written sometime between AD 58-65. The purpose of Luke is written in Acts 1: “to reveal all Jesus began to do and teach until He was taken up to Heaven.” Luke gave Theolophylis an orderly account – meaning he went in a chronological order. It’s interesting that each of these writers have a certain style that comes from their experience and personalities that give us details in different ways and yet they still have so many similarities. For example, Matthew writes to the Jews. Petes writes to the Gentiles, and Luke writes an orderly account which fits his style of meticulous details, which is in line with his training as a physician. I think it’s awesome how God uses humans to convey the message while at the same time allowing their personality and interests to come through in the style of their writing.
Got Questions
The practical application of Luke as described by Got Questions is: “The Gospel of Luke gives us a beautiful portrait of our compassionate Savior. Jesus was not “turned off” by the poor and the needy; in fact, they were a primary focus of His ministry. Israel at the time of Jesus was a very class-conscious society. The weak and downtrodden were literally powerless to improve their lot in life and were especially open to the message that “the kingdom of God is near you” (Luke 10:9). This is a message we must carry to those around us who desperately need to hear it. Even in comparatively wealthy countries—perhaps especially so—the spiritual need is dire. Christians must follow the example of Jesus and bring the good news of salvation to the spiritually poor and needy. The kingdom of God is near and the time grows shorter every day.”
Before I get to the gospel of John, let me add that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are all synoptic gospels. Synoptic means “together sight”. According to Got Questions, they say: “Nearly 90 percent of Mark’s content is found in Matthew, and about 50 percent of Mark appears in Luke. All of the parables of Christ are found in the Synoptics (the Gospel of John contains no parables).” It’s believed that Mark wrote his gospel first and the other gospels were written after his and used somewhat as a guide
John
John the apostle is the known author of the gospel of John. He is the brother of James – and together there were the sons of Zebedee. John also wrote 1, 2, and 3 John, as well as the book of Revelation.
There are fragments of John’s gospel from as early as the 2nd century. That means his gospel would have been written before AD 135. Historians think it’s reasonable to conclude John was written between AD 85-90.
John wrote his purpose in chapter 20:31, “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” What I find interesting about John’s gospel is that he shows Jesus is God by going back to before creation – before time began. He opens by calling Jesus the logos – which to the Greeks, they would have understood exactly what he meant – the word made flesh – God’s thoughts manifested in human form. John records only 7 miracles of Christ, and he records the famous “I Am” statements. John really focuses on the deity of Christ and that’s why I always recommend it to anyone just getting started with reading/studying the Bible.
The Purpose of Questions
One of the things the gospels record are the questions Jesus asked. Before we get into those and the fascinating things I learned when studying them, let’s first talk about the purpose of questions in the first place.
Have you ever thought about why people ask questions? Simply put, the purpose of questions is to get to the truth. We do that by forming them in several ways. For example, there are yes/no questions. There are who, what, when, where, why, and how questions. The third type of question is a choice question, known as an either/or question.
So that’s the first thing you should know.
The second think you should know is how the question is formed determines how you answer. If you don’t answer the question in the way it is formed, you run the risk of dodging the question or even committing a fallacy in logic called a red herring – which is deflecting. We can get into some examples of that as we look at the questions Jesus asked.
In the spring I went through the gospels and read all four books again, writing down every question Jesus asked.
This is what I found:
There are 307 total questions recorded in the gospels that Jesus asked. He asked more in His lifetime, but these are the ones recorded by the authors. There are some people who have done this and they came up with a little more or a little less, but they are still in the ballpark of about 300 questions.
What I found is (and this isn’t fool proof so this is an approximation) –
Matthew records 64 questions
Mark records 54 questions
Luke records 80 questions
John records 40 questions
Again, Luke being the historian that he is, records the most questions asked by Jesus.
But the thing that makes you wonder is why did Jesus ask questions if He was God and knew everything?
Were the questions for His benefit or for the one being questioned?
I think it goes back to the purpose of asking questions – to get to the truth. By asking questions, you build a relationship, you listen to the other person, and you make them own their situation.
Some of the yes/no questions Jesus asked are:
You don’t want to go away too, do you?
Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into His glory?
Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree?
Do you want to be made well?
Some of the WH questions He asked are:
If the salt loses its flavor, how will it be made salty agin?
Why are you afraid, you of little faith?
What then did you go out to see?
How many loaves do you have?
Some of the either/or questions He asked are:
Which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven, OR, get up and walk?
Blind fools! Which is greater: the gold OR the temple that sanctified the gold?
Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath OR to do evil?
Jesus used questions in teaching and I mentioned when I recorded the episode on the book of James, Jesus’ brother, that chapter 4 of James alone has several questions because questions are a teaching tool. They make you evaluate yourself.
And there were religious leaders who would not answer the questions. They were stubborn and hard hearted. But Jesus had a purpose for the questions He asked even though He didn’t need to and for the answer to why He asked them, we have to go back to Genesis.
The Purpose of Jesus’ Questions
Do you know when the Bible records the first question? Not until after the fall. There was never a need for questions before this because there was nothing hidden from God in a perfect relationship with Him. The very first question recorded in the Bible is, “Adam, where are you?” The purpose of questions is to uncover what is hidden. Questions are a tool to get to the truth, and before the fall, nothing was hidden between God and man. Man was naked and not ashamed. But then man fell and hid from God and God asked a question to get Adam to reveal his position. God asks questions because you will answer to Him and Him alone – He always makes us face the truth.
When Adam answered and said he was hiding, God asked another question; Who told you you were naked”
So far we have two WH questions: Where are you, and who told you you were naked? Then God goes to a yes/no question: Did you eat from the tree from which I told you not to eat? Adam didn’t say yes. He deflected and placed blame and made an excuse. Which means he didn’t own it. But God still held Adam accountable for his sin.
That brings us to why Jesus asked questions.
Jesus was God. We see where He knew the thoughts and intent of the heart of the religious leaders. He performed miracles. He was in complete control of when He laid down His life – no one took it from Him. And He was in the beginning with God, as John says. So Jesus didn’t ask questions for His sake. He asked questions for the sake of the one being asked. Let’s look at some of the people Jesus asked questions of.
Blind Bartamaeus (Mark 10). It was obvious he was blind. But when Jesus was walking by one day, he cried out, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” He kept yelling and people around him told him to shut up. Jesus said, “Bring him here.” Ok, so Jesus told people to bring him because he was obviously blind. But Jesus asks an absurd question: What do you want me to do for you?
For real, Jesus? It’s obvious.
But Jesus had a purpose for the questions – to get to the heart of the matter. He made Bartamaeus answer the question. And he did and he received his sight.
There’s one particular passage of scripture that gets on my nerves because of how the man answers Jesus’ question. It’s found in John 5. Let me read you the first few verses:
“5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.”
Notice that the man did not answer yes or no.
He made an excuse. And if you continue reading the rest of the passage you see that he has an attitude of a victim. Yes, he was disabled, but the son of God was standing right in front of him and he didn’t say yes, I want to be healed. When the man is confronted by the religious leaders as to why he’s carrying his mat on the Sabbath, the man blamed it on the guy who healed him. Where is the gratitude? Later, Jesus finds him and addresses his sin. Notice what Jesus didn’t do – He didn’t just heal the man and let him go on his way to live a normal life free of illness. He knew that if the man lived a lifestyle of sin, his physical condition was the least of his problems because his spiritual condition was going to last for an eternity.
But notice what the man does. In verse 16, “15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.”
The question is meant to reveal what is hidden by the one being questioned.
Detectives do it. It’s called an interrogation. But do you know what’s different between someone who’s just trying to question to get to the bottom of the an issue and the questions God asks? Relationship. God went back to Adam in the garden to re-establish the relationship they once had but making Adam answer. Jesus asked questions to reveal the truth and to establish a relationship with those He called to repentance. He did it with the woman at the well. He did it with His disciples. And He did it with Peter after he denied Jesus three times. And He still does it with us today.
We are still called to answer questions like, ‘Who do men say that I am?” “Who do you say that I am?”
When Jesus asked His disciples to eat His flesh and drink His blood in John 6 and many of them walked away because they took Him literally, He asked His disciples, “Do you want to go too?” Peter has the best answer, “Where else can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Those questions should haunt us because they are still asked today.
Every time the culture throws stones at Christianity and you know what men say about Christ, you have to answer, “But who do you say that I am?”
When people walk away because Christ’s words are offensive because they demand that we rely on HIs sacrifice on the cross, we are still required to answer, “Do you want to go away too?”
How we answer the question is just as important as the question itself. God answers questions to reveal what is hidden. We have the opportunity to tell the truth or to keep the truth hidden. But know this – if we choose not to answer because we don’t want to be honest because the answer isn’t the one God wants to hear. Or if we place blame for our sin and make excuses for our condition, understand that God knows because He sees it all. He is not asking the question because He doesn’t know. He is asking because He knows that if we answer honestly, no matter how messy it is, the relationship with Him is where it needs to be. There’s no barrier of dishonesty between us.
Close:
There is treasure in God’s word. The gospels are worth studying. If you have questions about God’s word, let that be the thing that drives you to seek Him and find the answer. One day I hope to do a study on the questions Jesus was asked, but I haven’t had a chance to yet. There are studies out there on those but I like to look it up for myself and then check what I find against theologians and scholars.
One of the earliest lessons I learned in my walk with Christ is to be honest with Him no matter what that looked like. I was 17 and raised in church. Some of you have heard me say this. The question that came to my mind when I told God I loved Him one day was, “Do you love me?” It’s the same question Jesus asked Peter – three times. We’re all going to answer that question. I mean, it doesn’t matter if you’re 17 or 70 – I hope everyone is asked that question because there is no escaping it. It’s sort of like the, “Who do you say that I am” question.
It wasn’t until I was faced with that question that I realized I didn’t love God. But if I never would have had to answer it, I probably would have continued to go through the motions until I couldn’t anymore because God doesn’t want a fake relationship with us. And I decided to be honest, even though it wasn’t the right answer, and I said, “I don’t love you, God. But I’d like to know you for myself. Help me do that, please.” And from that day forward, God has been faithful to walk with me in this thing called life.
Thank God for the questions He asks.
Thank God that He cares that much about us that He would even bother to ask us questions. The God of the universe, who spoke everything into existence, has the power to take the breath He put in our lungs back at any moment, holds the universe together, and He stops to ask us questions. Only the God of the Bible does that. And we get to serve Him. We get to know Him.
I hope this episode encouraged you and I hope it motivates you to study your bible yourself. There is so much wisdom and truth in it. If you have any questions for me, email me at hello@shandafulbright.copm and I’ll catch you on the next one.
e next one!
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