Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Why Did Jesus Ask So Many Questions
Why Did Jesus Ask So Many Questions
Whether you are a follower of Jesus or not, we would all do well to study the “communication
practices” of the one many believe to be the greatest communicator in all of history.
Jesus’ communication style focused on two things: He told great stories and asked great
questions!
I don’t know about you, but I ask a lot of questions because I do not know the answers. That was
never true of Jesus. He knew all of the answers and yet he focused so much of his interaction with
people on asking them questions. The four Gospels record 339 questions that Jesus asked.
Engagement
Questions built relationships
Forced those he was interacting with to have to think
Created conversations
His listeners were more likely to own their own conclusions
He sometimes answered questions with questions of his own
He sometimes asked warm up questions to get the conversation started
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even
sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those
who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do
that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting
to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and
lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your
reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most
High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful. ~Luke 6:32-36
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will
eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life
more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the
birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single
hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See
how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I
tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like
one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he
not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ~Matthew 6: 25-
30
Warm up questions:
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter
answered, “You are the Messiah.” ~Mark 8:29
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful
for a man to divorce his wife for any and every
reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning
the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this
reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to
his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? ~Matthew 19: 3-5
My favorite question:
“What do you think?” ~Matthew 18:12
Clever questions:
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who
fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The
one who had mercy on him.” ~Luke 10:36-37
It is easy for us to miss the real brilliance of this question because in our culture we have no hatred
for Samaritans. But in Jesus’s day the Jews hated the Samaritans. Those living in northern Israel
would take the long route to Jerusalem simply to avoid going through Samaria. So when Jesus
asks “Who was the neighbor?” there was most likely a long pause before the Jewish expert in the
law replied and almost certainly it was very difficult for him to verbalize that the “Hero” of this
story was a Samaritan when he hated all Samaritans. Jesus could have told this story and ended
by stating: “Therefore the Samaritan was the good neighbor” but instead he brilliantly asked the
expert in the law to answer, knowing how potentially powerful answering that question might be
in his life and the lives of the others present.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit
down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to
complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to
finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This
person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a
king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit
down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to
oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is
not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long
way off and will ask for terms of peace. ~Luke 14:28-32
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer
followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus
asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to
believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” ~John
6:66-68
Questions that restored the disciple who denied Jesus three times:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon
son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he
said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my
lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love
me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus
said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to
him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt
because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He
said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” ~John 21:15-17
BOB TIEDE