Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a great listener — the best listener the world will ever know. And He continues to listen to those who surrender to Him in repentance and faith, and to Christians as we praise Him and pray in confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.
While He walked this earth, Jesus posed many questions, both to His followers and those on the periphery (which included combative Jewish leaders and even Roman militia). Jesus’ questions were pointed and when they landed on listening ears, His queries led Jesus’ audience on an introspective journey to truth —toward Himself (John 14:6).
Every question our Lord asked is important, but when pressed to choose just 12, it’s easy to land on the following. I pray the lessons Jesus taught through these questions in the Gospels fill your heart and mind with His truth and goodness.
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1. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).
This passage is part of the Beatitudes, (The Sermon on the Mount) which encompass the greater part of Matthew 5-7). Matthew 4:25 tells us great crowds followed Jesus from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. When He saw them, He went up on the nearby mountain and preached. Throughout the sermon, Jesus spoke of the characteristics of the blessed and He told the people who they were to be and how they were to act.
Isn’t this a conundrum we all face? As much then as now, we need these words of Jesus to guide our lives. In this passage, Jesus addressed judgment when it’s used to condemn others. We are indeed to judge within the church, but condemnation (vengeance too) belongs to the Lord alone. We can’t see past our own sinful pride as we regard the (perceived) sins of others.
Therefore, our Lord reminds us to look at ourselves first, and in the light of our sinless Savior, we all fall short of exemplary and sinless lives. The Apostle Paul spoke of the Lord’s grace throughout his epistles, often greeting his readers with “grace to you…from the Lord Jesus Christ” and ending with a grace-filled doxology such as, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Romans 16:20). As we consider others, remember God’s grace toward us and the grace with which we are to regard others.
2. “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26).
We can imagine the Lord Jesus may have become sinlessly impatient with His disciples. After spending so much time under His holy tutelage, it’s easy for us to think, “Why are these guys so dull?” But our vantage point is post-Resurrection and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, something the disciples had yet to experience.
Our faith is real because God called us to Him through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). The disciples who became Jesus’ Apostles were called, too. But much truth was veiled to them as they walked with Jesus for three years. Yet upon His ascension and the arrival of the Holy Spirit, everything He taught them came to them as daylight (Acts 2). But until then, their fear was a result of imperfect knowledge and belief.
We have no such excuse for fear and/or doubt as Jesus’ pre-Resurrection/Pentecost followers (John 8:32; Romans 1:18-32).
3. “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” (Matthew 9:5).
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees after they admonished Him for healing on the Sabbath. We know Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:27), but the Pharisees with their traditions – which went far beyond the Law – did not. Jesus revealed those Jewish leaders as “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27), all outward self-righteous appearance with death inside.
Jesus exposed their hypocrisy when He contrasted physical healing (“rise and walk”) with spiritual healing (“your sins are forgiven”). Spiritual healing is our first and most important need.
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4. “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?” (Mark 4:21).
Jesus was explaining the purpose and importance of the parables to His disciples. They would understand what the people could not (Mark 4:11). After He explained a few to them (Mark 4:10-20), Jesus posed this question. After His resurrection and ascension, they would bring an explosion of the Gospel throughout the world (Colossians 1:3-14). Indeed, the Gospel of the kingdom still spreads over the earth.
There would and will be no hiding the good news of Jesus Christ. They and we share the Gospel and do not hide it, for Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12) and His light reveals everything — nothing can be hidden from Him (Mark 4:22).
5. “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?” (Mark 14:37).
Oftentimes, fear makes us escape into deep fatigue and sleep. That’s what happened to Simon (Peter). The events of the previous days were troubling and confusing to all of the disciples, no matter their outward show of unwavering loyalty (John 13:37-38). They’d all scatter, albeit temporarily (Mark 14:50).
As we live a life as kingdom dwellers while aliens and strangers in this world (Ephesians 2:19; 1 Peter 2:11), we are to remain separate and holy as unto the Lord. We interact with unregenerate people, yet as Christ’s ambassadors and not as people who are conformed to the world (Romans 12:1-2).
6. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34).
Jesus, while on the cross and near death, fulfilled prophecy with this prayer from King David (Psalm 22:1). Jesus endured true forsakenness, momentarily, on the cross. The darkness fell over all the land and Christ experienced before His eyes the wrath of God on all sinners. Our sinless Savior died. But He rose on the third day and sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven (Hebrews 12:2).
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7. “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46).
Only those who do the will of the Father will enter His kingdom. People can talk about being a Christ-follower, but unless they actually do what He commands, they are far from His kingdom. Jesus proclaimed in the preceding passage good fruit will bear witness to one’s salvation (Luke 6:43-45). A heartless proclamation bears bad (unregenerate and worthless) fruit.
8. “But Who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20).
Jesus and His disciples had reached a “tipping point,” so to speak. The disciples had been with Jesus as He healed, taught, and did other miraculous signs. His group had reached Caesarea Philippi, and in the sight of a pagan worship site referred to then as “the gates of hell,” Jesus questioned His followers.
He first asked who people said He was, and then He pointedly asked Simon Peter who he said He is. Peter’s confession of faith brought Jesus’ ministry to a culmination of all that had gone before in His incarnation. Peter’s answer declared Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thereafter, Jesus told His disciples what would take place next — His crucifixion, death, and resurrection. The Gospel was there in their midst, and Jesus told Peter that he would be the rock on which the Church was built.
9. “What things?” (Luke 24:19).
The third day after Jesus’ death arrived; some followers were gathered together, some scattered. Two sad disciples made their way to Emmaus as they discussed the events in Jerusalem the previous week. As they walked and talked, a man joined them and asked about their conversation as they walked. At this point, Jesus’ identity was hidden from them, and one of the men, Cleopas exclaimed, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” We can’t fault his ignorance, but the irony is unmistakable; Cleopas stood before the Creator of the heavens and the earth by whose providence all history unfolds, wondering why He didn’t know what happened regarding “this Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus’ question brought their attention to Him as He spoke, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Their eyes were opened when they broke bread with Him and they realized He is the Christ and remarked how their hearts burned within them as He spoke to them along the road (Luke 24:13-35).
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10. “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12).
Jesus was in deep conversation with the doubtful yet curious Pharisee, Nicodemus about the need to be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus didn’t understand Jesus’ message and reacted in unbelief. The Bible doesn’t reveal if Nicodemus ever answered, but what Scripture gives us is Jesus’ Gospel words regarding eternal life because of belief in Him. It’s not the entire Gospel message, but it’s the gist.
11. “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6).
An invalid of thirty-eight years lay beside the pool of Bethesda, waiting for the healing waters to be stirred up so he could jump in and be healed. To that date, he was unable to make his way into the pool when the water moved. Jesus chose to engage with that man on a Sabbath day. He approached him and asked, “Do you want to be healed?” The man explained his conundrum, thinking Jesus meant physical healing. But Jesus tends to our spiritual needs first. The man’s physical healing was a blessed byproduct of his physical healing.
This healing brought the Pharisees’ ire and they questioned the man, who later saw Jesus again and Jesus addressed his spiritual state (John 5:14). Jesus then rebuked the Pharisees when He (1) called God His Father and (2) proclaimed God’s continued work.
12. “So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’” (John 6:67).
Christ taught hard lessons and gave seemingly impossible commands. Jesus had just told His followers no one can come to Him unless the father draws them. The key to following Him, then, is abiding in Him (John 15:6). Those who attempt to be His disciples on their own merit and might fail. We who surrender to Jesus in repentance and faith are able to abide in Him because the Holy Spirit dwells within us (1 Corinthians 3:16). His hard sayings and commands are encased in His abiding Spirit, so it is His power which works mightily in us (Colossians 1:29). Others may fall away, but by His power we remain steadfast.
We can look to the Old Testament, too, when we seek questions Jesus asked. How? Through His pre-Incarnate appearances — Christophanies.
Jesus has always been God’s representative on earth (John 16:28; 17:8). And the Lord Jesus Christ permeates the whole of the Bible; it’s all about Him. God’s first question to man was in the form of a Christophany, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). It’s a vastly important question for all of us. The gist of the question is are we with God (walking with Him) or are we apart (walking away) from Him?
As we look at all the questions Jesus posed, it’s striking when He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He asked not one question of him. Why would He question the father of lies? Instead, He authoritatively spoke irrefutable truth the tempter could never rebut. Look into the Gospels and find Jesus’ questions. May they spark your spirit in wonder and praise of our Savior.
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