Questions and Answers

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Scripture

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
(Matthew 22:34 NASB)
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
(Matthew 22:35 NASB)
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:
(Matthew 22:41 NASB)
No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.
(Matthew 22:46 NASB)

Observation

In this story in Matthew we find an interesting dialog between Jesus and those who were trying to trap Him. The Sadducees came to Him first and tried to trick Him. It didn't work. So, the Pharisees decided to step forward with their questions. After they were unsuccessful at tricking Him, finally Jesus turned the tables on them and asked them a question. His question was so clever that they dare not answer it, because they would have had to concede that he was the Christ and that He was the Son of God. Instead they decided that they'd better not ask Him anymore questions.

Application

Do we ever go back and forth with Jesus, peppering Him with questions? The leaders of His day loved to throw questions at Him, their goal being to catch Him saying something wrong, or to find some kind of inconsistency. What is our purpose in questioning Christ? Let's be honest, maybe we're trying to find some kind of inconsistency as well. If only we could find something wrong with Jesus we might be able to make excuses for ourselves and our lack of faith. But in reality, don't we do this? Don't we try and run our own lives and get ourselves into a bind and then we begin to ask why God let all of this bad stuff happen to us. We question whether there really is a God and we blame Him for the mess in our lives. Somehow if we could find something wrong with Christ, we would feel better about not follow His leading and commandments for our lives.

Sadly the Pharisees and the Sadducees gave up questioning Christ, not because they had faith, but because they were frustrated that they couldn't beat Him. Maybe we ought to take a different stance. Maybe we ought to quit questioning Him, and put our wholehearted trust in Him. Jesus really does have the answers, if we want to hear them and apply them to our lives.

Prayer

Lord, may we listen to Your voice and Your leading in our lives on a daily basis. Amen.

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