Asking Good Questions

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.  21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.  23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26 He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”  Mark 2:18-28

Faith and questioning go together like hand/glove.  Faith and questioning dance with each other in amazing ways.  But sometimes the glove doesn't fit or toes get stepped on.  I love questions, but it is our pesky, insensate need to find the solution once and for all.  But good questions don't always have answers.  And sometimes our questions themselves need to be examined.  There is the age-old question, Why?  Why this suffering?  Why this pain?  This cancer?  This illness?  This family dysfunction?  And most of the time the responses to that work better in a blog post than a doctor's office.  In the end, we don't know.  We can throw out words like "God's plan" or "Mystery" or even "Just have faith"...but that really helps the person who is saying the words more than the one hearing them.  When someone asks a question usually they have some thoughts on responses...they might just be waiting to see if you will allow space.  The problem with trying to justify suffering is it does two things.  First, we try to let God off the hook.  The Psalmist never did.  They scream and yell...hoot and shout...shake their fist, head and walk away.  I don't know why we think God needs our defense.  Second, we continue to prop up the sense that faith is some insurance policy against bad things happening to good people.  And the real challenge is that while we ask "Why" in the face of struggles, I rarely ask why my family loves me unconditionally or why I have a roof over my head and food on my table.  If I ask why in bad times, what about the why of good times?  Partly because life is not a balance sheet or an accounting problem.

We need to ask questions...and we need to ask good questions.  the Pharisees today ask a question mainly to justify their understandings/way of life.  To be clear, we still do this in politics, in the church, around the office, and in our families.  We feel threatened when someone lives/thinks/acts differently.  Jesus' response reminds us that we are constantly changing.  And when we try to take an old wineskin or even a NEW piece of cloth and use it indeterminately that can have consequences.  We see this in the world today.  We see this in trying to deal with terrorism...which is a war...but is different.  We see in this trying to face issues of immigration, which we have always struggled with as a country, and yet it is different.  Every problem has historical roots and new branches springing forth.  Every questions is grounded in our lives and yet has new growing/tension points.  

When the Pharisees ask about picking grain, you can tell they are just trying to find some place to trip and trick Jesus.  When the church keeps asking, where are the young people?  Why doesn't everyone love Bach on the organ?  Why would YOU come join US?  We are asking important questions.  BUT maybe there are better questions.  Maybe a better question is how can we meet people today where they are...especially those who say they are spiritual and not religious.  Can we listen to what that means?  Maybe we can try to listen to some music in other ways and ask why a person finds that type meaningful?  Maybe we can see the young folks who are coming to church...and realize it is hurtful to say/imply that they are not enough.

Questions reveal the unfolding paradox and tension, which is what Mark is up to in his gospels... see my previous posts.  Questions start poking around to see if we can figure out why.  And often our initial questions are good...but there are other ones too.  Just as the questions we asked in 1st grade are good...but by 6th grade we hope the questions have changed.  Not because we solved all our 1st grade queries...but with new experiences our questions change.

So...what questions are you asking right now about life?  Faith?  Understanding?

What responses do you have?

Who can you engage in dialogue so that new experiences, insights and ideas might keep us asking good questions?

May there be more than a trace of God's grace as we do this!

Blessings ~