Good Questions

Depending on the translation, today’s lectionary reading* is titled some variation of this:

Peter Says, You Are The Messiah, The Son of The Living God.

The point of this passage, everyone seems to agree, is the declaration that Peter makes. After all, it has been claimed as capital-T Truth by Christians around the world over the last thousands of years. It’s this response that prompts Jesus to name Peter as the foundation on which the church will be built and holder of the keys to heaven.

 

But I’m less interested in Peter’s answer than the fact that Jesus asked the question, Who do you say that I am?  

 

When you stop to think about it, it’s almost shocking that the Messiah bothers to ask what Peter thinks. If I could title this passage, I would name it Jesus Asks Peter a Life-changing Question. When I think of the spiritual teachers that I have learned from the most across the years, even more than their hard-earned wisdom I have valued their knack for asking the right questions — questions that have opened my mind and heart to the Spirit: Who are you? What are you seeking? What is God calling you to do? Who do you say Jesus is?

 

According to UCC theologian Martin Copenhaver, the gospel records 307 questions asked by Jesus. Some are rhetorical or philosophical: Which one of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? And some are deeply personal: What do you want me to do for you? Why are you so afraid? Where is your faith?

 

By contrast, there are only 183 questions asked of Jesus — and these by all of his followers, friends, and enemies combined. I can’t help but think there’s something to this disparity. Could Jesus’ way of living and loving, this way that so many of us want to follow, be inextricably linked to his inquisitive habits?

 

It’s a good question.