Learning To Ask The Right Question
Text: Mark 12:13-37
Proposition: When we learn to ask the right questions we move forward in our understanding and faith.
Introduction: Have you ever seen that television game show called Jeopardy where the answer is given and the contestants have to come up with the question that leads to it. A simple example would be, “In 1492 he sailed across the Atlantic on a ship called the Mayflower.” The response would be, “Who is Christopher Columbus?”. Knowing the answer enables the contestants to think what the right question is. Perhaps the same thing in a biblical context would be. “The surname of this apostle was Levi and he was an employee of the Roman forces.” The response would be, “Who is Matthew?” What if the question went something like, “It was the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands and which broke into pieces the iron, bronze and clay, silver and gold statue?” The right response, “Who is Jesus Christ?”. There are so many prophecies in Scripture that pointed to Jesus that there shouldn’t be any question as to Who He is, why He has come and what He is yet to do. Instead, there are many who are looking for answers as to Who Jesus is but they are asking the wrong questions. So often the questions are like this, “If God is all powerful, why is there so much suffering in the world?” It sounds like a good question but it’s based on misunderstanding. What do they mean by, ‘all powerful’, can an all powerful God do what He wants to do and even include suffering as part of His purposes? Can He do this and not impugn His moral goodness, His perfect justice and His character of loving kindness? What is our understanding of the cause of suffering, is there such a thing as sin in the world? If there is misunderstanding on these issues the questions we ask will not lead to the answers we long for. This morning we’re going to look at three people who came to Jesus asking questions. Turn to Mark 12:13-34.
I. The First Question Was Meant to Produce Either Indecision or Error.
I think many people want to make God look either weak or wrong. What do you think was the real question they were asking? The way to figure that out is to look at the answer they expected. They expected that the answer is that Jesus is just a popular person but there is no real substance to Him or His claims. That was the answer that they hoped would emerge and their real question was, ‘Jesus are you as smart as us, can you really out think us?’ I don’t think this was a question they just blurted out, they had considered it carefully, they even knew that flattery always made your opponent less likely to sense a trap, flattery and pride were the bait and hook of their own experiences. Perhaps human experience is not the best way to base your questions about God, perhaps we too need to be aware that pride plays a role in how we see Jesus. Let’s look at their question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” That it was not a genuine request for guidance or for understanding is immediately clear to Jesus. They pretend to want one thing but really are after something else. That’s hypocrisy, they pretended to want truth and even justice but what they really wanted was to be justified in their contempt towards Jesus. Contempt can be a very powerful force in our lives, it can be the reason why we do what we do even though the surface issues look bona fide. The question that they asked was meant to catch Jesus on the horns of controversy. To deny Rome its taxes was sedition, to encourage the people to pay was to fraternize with the enemy. Jesus asks for a denarius and holds the coin up for all to see. The denarius coin of that day had the head of Emperor Tiberius on one side with the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus”, in Latin. On the other side was a depiction of Caesar seated on a throne with the inscription, “Pontiff Maxim” or translated from Latin, “Highest Priest”. Jesus response was, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words don’t mistake the claims of man with the claims of God, the former is the less of the two. Inferred is the command to give God that which He is due… honor, obedience, worship, love. Learn to ask the questions that challenge contempt and pride in your life, ask the questions that seek to give God that which He is due.
II. The Second Question Was Meant To Ridicule the Resurrection.
The question the Sadducees asked was based on a Law from Deuteronomy 25 that said if a husband died his brother should take the widowed wife as his wife in order to maintain his dead brothers’ name. It was intended to promote the ongoing survival of Israel in a hostile land. The Sadducees, who didn’t believe in resurrection but rather saw the body as that which imprisons the soul, push the Deuteronomy 25 law to a ridiculous degree, seven husbands who had no one to carry on their line. So the Sadducees are asking a question about an issue that they didn’t even believe in, expecting that Jesus’ answer would be one that would undermine His credibility and weakened His popularity and strike political pay dirt by discrediting the Pharisees would held a pro- resurrection view. Look at how Jesus answers their question.
1. He points out that they have a poor knowledge of Scripture. Just in the Old Testament, and particularly in the Penteteuch which the Sadducees revered, there are many references to the reality of resurrection. Genesis 2:7; Gen.22 and Heb. 11:19; Job 14:14; Psalm 73:24-26; Isa. 26:19; Hos. 6:2; Psalm 17:15.
2. He points out that they don’t know the power of God. How big is God, can He do that beyond which you can think or even imagine? Are His ways indeed higher than our ways? Don’t belittle God by thinking that He’s only as deep as you.
3. He points out the truth about life after death. In that state there is no longer a need for procreation, no longer a need for the marriage bed. In this state there is no death as people are eternally saved through their faith in the Christ. The irony is that people will be like angels, forever existent, and the Sadducees denied the existence of angels. Even though clearly taught in Scripture, they saw what they wanted to see and missed the wonder of how God prolongs the lineage of men eternally.
4. He points out that God refers to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in a present tense way, meaning they still exist and await resurrection. God testifies that there is existence after death, even existence as a person in body, soul and spirit.
When we ask questions that are meant to ridicule the truth of what God has repeatedly declared so that the credibility of God might be questioned, then the end result is what Jesus said in just two words. Look at the last part of verse 27, literally there are but two words… “badly” … “you-are-mistaken” or , “badly” “you-blunder”.
III. The Third Question Asks For Answers That Will Direct Their Life.
A Scribe, one who writes down the Scripture and is very familiar with it asks a question that has an almost obvious answer. Though there were over 600 commandments there was one that they especially needed to live by. The question was one of priorities, what comes first when we want to know God more? Jesus quotes to him The Shema, it was memorized by every young Jewish man, it was written down and put in the little boxes that men wore on their foreheads, it was in the mezuzah, the square parchment attached to the upper door posts of their houses. The Shema, from the Hebrew word ‘Hear’, declared the essence of monotheism and the call to the people was that in all things they were to love the Lord their God with all of who they were. Then the self care, the self preservation, the self respect, then this self love was to be exercised towards others, to the degree that you cared for yourself. Why would Jesus include such a difficult thing and add it to the Shema? Is it that we are made in the image of God, is that we are God’s handiwork, is it that God highly values every individual person even to the extent of having His joy, His closest One, the only One Who truly knows Him… to have that One leave heaven and enter into humanity that He would die for their sin that they might live eternally. Is it that God loves you that you are to love another? In other words, is it a command to love what God loves? The Scribe knew these words but when Jesus put them next to each other like this the Scribe suddenly saw something that he’d never seen before. Look at his comment in verse 33, “(this) is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Does he mean this is what God desires even more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices? Did he mean this glorifies God more than all the sacrifices? Did he mean that this is the greater obedience, anyone can do good works, how about loving God from the depths of who you are and actually loving your neighbor as yourself. Learn to ask the right question, the kind that leads to answers that really will direct your life, for the rest of your life, eternally.