Tag: Questions

Getting It…

Some years ago, I was sitting with a group of colleagues, discussing our roles as youth ministry professionals. The discussion at hand was centered on recruitment and development of volunteer leaders. We had immersed ourselves in Gospel reading, which led to pondering the types of people Jesus invited to follow him. More specifically, we wondered what he might have seen in the Twelve that separated them from the rest of his followers. It led to a lively discussion.

We then wondered about the qualities and characteristics Peter, James, and John possessed that caused Jesus to spend inordinate amounts of time with them and their development compared to the other nine. Some words we used to describe what Jesus might have seen in them were openness, willingness, teachable/coachable, hunger, authenticity, etc.

Translating to youth ministry, I asked what we looked for when recruiting volunteers to join us in our ministries. We agreed that the same general characteristics applied. I followed with this question: “Considering our existing leaders, what qualities do our best leaders possess that others may not?” We concluded they shared the same traits we believed Peter, James, and John had. We noted that other leaders might exhibit some of the traits but not all of them.

We decided to tackle a simple, one-sentence definition or descriptor of this x-factor that our best leaders seemed to have. After wrestling with several renditions, one in our group said, “I don’t know how to describe it. They just ‘get it’.” But what do we mean when we say someone “gets it?” Wrestling with that question for a while, we somehow landed on this:

If someone gets it, no definition is required. If they don’t get it, no definition will suffice.

I wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Thinking back to the previous post (Best Prof Ever…), I wonder if some of Jesus’ brilliance in his teaching style was that he didn’t seem to be overly concerned with making sure people “got it.” He would tell stories about the nature of the kingdom of God to the crowds, sometimes feed them, and then go somewhere else.

Did he leave their questions unanswered? Did they even have questions in the first place? Did he simply give them something worth pondering and wondering about?

Maybe that’s why Jesus was such a good question-asker. “Getting it” doesn’t come simply with the provision of a definition or answer. Getting it usually happens when we ponder and wrestle with a question(s) over time. Looking at the youth minister example above, we wrestled with a number of questions. Jesus wanted people to reexamine their understanding of God and their cultural presuppositions of the nature of the kingdom. People do want answers but often seek answers to the wrong questions. Jesus would often do a reversal and ask a question that wasn’t even on their radar.

Jesus’ questions usually show up as blimps on our radars that we cannot ignore!

Looking back over my journey, I can remember several great questions asked by wise people that caused me to pause and do some rethinking. One in particular comes to mind: Early in my journey, I was wrestling with the manifestation of some of the spiritual gifts that well-meaning people suggested were missing in my life. Lots of people were providing “answers,” telling me what I ought to believe. However…

It was a wise sage in my life that asked me the exact right question: “Are you seeking the gift or the Giver?” That’s all I remember him saying. (I wonder if he might have been thinking, “Well, if he has ears to hear…”). Whatever he was thinking, it was transformative.

I wonder if it might behoove us to emulate Jesus’ approach when helping people get it, whatever “it” happens to be. I remember someone lamenting that their adult kids weren’t as connected to God the way they had hoped. I asked what they thought was the disconnect. Their response? “I don’t know. I certainly told them [what to believe] enough.” Our Western approach of telling people “how it is”1 doesn’t naturally lead to transformation, especially if they don’t have ears to hear. But a well-formed question can lead to discovery. I know a group of youth ministers who will never forget the discovery…

If someone gets it, no definition is required. If they don’t get it, no definition will suffice.

1Borrowed from Dallas Willard: Willard, D. (2024). The scandal of the kingdom : how the parables of Jesus revolutionize life with God. Zondervan Books.

The Road to Emmaus

One of my favorite Easter stories is the one often entitled The Road to Emmaus. If you have never read this story or haven’t recently read it, you might want to.  It can be found in Luke 24:13-35.  I’ve read or heard it a number of times over the past few months.  It’s a most fascinating story – I’m glad that Luke felt God’s tug to include it in his gospel.

It’s the story about two of Jesus’ followers (not part of the Twelve) as they travel from Jerusalem to Emmaus on “that very day” – the day Jesus was resurrected.  As they walked the seven-mile trek, they had all kinds of time to talk through the events of the past three days, so they did. 

As they walked, Jesus showed up, appearing unbeknownst. Jesus had once said, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matt. 18:20). That’s literally what he did, though the two disciples didn’t recognize him. As he came alongside them he asked a simple, yet profound question: “So, what were you guys talking about.”  They stood there looking sad.

One of them asked Jesus if he was the only person that hadn’t heard what took place in Jerusalem these last few days.  Jesus then asked a simpler and even more profound question: “What things?”  Love it.  Jesus, who experienced it all, asked, “What things?”

It was just like Jesus – not missing a teaching moment, always asking great questions.  (I suppose he could have been just messing with them – I certainly would have!)  I think as a teacher, Jesus asked questions for a couple reasons: (1) He wanted to discover what they understood, thought, believed, and perceived, and, more importantly, (2) He wanted them to discover what they understood, thought, believed, and perceived.

Mostly, I think he wanted people to pause, think, and ponder.

Think about some of the questions he asked – Do you want to get well?  What do you think about John the Baptist?  Which of the three was the neighbor to the victim? What do you think (he asked this often)? What do you want me to do for you?  Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and don’t do what I say?  Who do you say that I am?  What are you looking for? He seemed to always be asking questions that caused the hearer to pause and maybe ponder for a second or two. Or more.

I remember talking with a High School girl during a grief group session I was facilitating several years ago.  She was struggling with how God could have taken her loved one.  I asked her the question, “Take or allow?”  She was doodling on her folder, paused, looked at me, and said, “I’ve never had anyone ask me that before.  I’ll have to think about it.”  Ponder.  This young gal, with a pretty new faith, came back the next week and said that she was rethinking how she viewed God’s role in her loved one’s death.

Several years ago at a local coffee shop, a stranger, noticing me writing in my journal, asked me how keeping a journal has helped me grow in my faith.  (No one had ever asked me that before or, at least, not that point blank.)  I thought about it for a second and said, “It makes me ponder.”

It really does.  As I spend time alone with God in solitude, I find it’s in the moments that I ponder what I’m reading (and the subsequent questions that seem to arise) that things begin to connect for me.  I get to discover what I understand, think, believe, and perceive about things.  It’s almost like Jesus is sitting with me asking the questions that make me pause and think – pondering in solitude. 

I refer to it as times of pondertude.