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Episode 94. The Questions Jesus Gives Us to Ask (because He never met a stranger)

Hello human.

When Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, it was the first miracle He performed. It was prompted by his mother’s understanding of her Son’s divine power to transcend physical limitation. They had run out of wine, and wouldn’t He do something?

And although He said it was not His time, He honored His mother.

He made the best wine. Only the servants who had drawn the water knew, only the disciples with Him knew. And His mother.

Amazing public miracles followed, miracles of faith healings, exorcisms, resurrections, and control over nature.

Miracles that caused many people to believe. Because they had witnessed it.

The Biblical “seeing is believing” mantra. But this is the paradox, that the people Jesus healed needed to believe in Him, beyond the healing.

Jesus Does Not Need Our Testimony

And He did not place His trust in humanity.

John 2:23-24

23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

Jesus did not need any testimony. Jesus does not need any outside testimony for any of us.

So, while I am laser focused on my witness for Him, providing testimony on how God works in my life, my heart, my soul, Jesus already knows. And it is through that knowing and His love, that He engages me, empowers me to love others.

Jesus does not need anyone to bear witness to who I am, what goodness or evil is within me. He is the only One that can claim knowing me in my full humanity, and my full spiritual nature.

Because His cross made it possible.

The Questions Jesus Asked Those He Healed

This is why looking at the questions Jesus asked of those He healed is so illuminating. Let’s look at a few.

To the blind man: “Do you see anything?”

Mark 8:23-25

23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

To the two blind men: “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

Matthew 9:27-31

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

To the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years: “Who touched me?”

Luke 8:42-47

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, [c] but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

To the Samaritan woman: “Will you give me a drink?” which led to a series of deep, spiritual discoveries.

John 4:7-15

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

To the demons in the possessed man: “What is your name?”

Luke 8:30-31

30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

To Mary Magdalene: “Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

John 20:11-16

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Witness Resolution – See the People You Do Not Know

Jesus never met a stranger during His earthly walk. Jesus has never and will never meet a stranger. I am following the man who knows everyone.

And it is through His eyes I want to see those who I do not yet know.

This might seem like a detour right now, but I am calling out the devastating ambivalence of an undirected life. Humans that never ask the right questions of those on our path.  The Gospels give us the roadmap for how Jesus did it, and how we are to do it. The beauty of asking the question that speaks to someone’s heart beyond what the person asks for. Or thinks is needed.

Spiritual perception. Spiritual discernment. The questions Jesus asked are powerful cues for how we connect with those He has put in our path to love. On a first take, it might look something like this.

Jesus said, “Who touched me?” – aka, I say, “How can what I have help you? What do you need from me?”

Jesus said, “Will you give me a drink?” – aka, I say, “I value what you have to give me. You are needed in my life.”

Jesus said, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” – aka, I say, “Can you trust me enough to accept what I provide? Can you trust me enough to let me help you?”

Jesus said, “Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” – aka, I say, “I see you are hurting. I see you are searching; I know where He is.”

Holding People Hostage By Doing Nothing For Them

I tell myself, and I am telling you human, do not hold people hostage for an ego ransom. A power ransom. A hate ransom. We are not qualified to make lasting judgements on people. God is. We do not have the power to take someone’s heart hostage. Do not display conviction out of convenience, close proximity to what is easiest, most followed, most loved, most… anything. Conviction comes at the price of the cross. The one Jesus died on. No other.

So, taking hostages is when we do nothing for the people in our lives. We hold them at arm’s length because of an ideology, a party affiliation, a lifestyle, some “earthly construct” that has very little to do with loving someone.

Yet Jesus told us and tells us His love is one question away from a conversation at the well, in the garden, outside the temple, and all the places we put one foot in front of the other.

God will whack down the weeds in front of us. He will clear our way to love.

When Jesus Says “Your Name Here”

I am jazzed to have come to this moment with you, human. To hear Jesus’ questions freshly in my spiritual ear. What sticks with me as I jump off this BUOY and re-enter my own open water, is this.

I am thankful for the miracle of salvation and redemption in my life.

When I say “Jesus”, He calls me by my name. He has walked out of the tomb.

And like Mary, I will go tell others. Let’s go, human.