Questions of Jesus

Christians sometimes go to the bible for answers to questions. And sometimes they come from the bible with questions to answer. God’s first question was multi-layered in its significance: ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:9) The answer was no less so: ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself’. (3:10) God’s questions are probing; our reaction is often to hide, afraid because of our nakedness. Like Father, like Son. One of the first gospel statements about Jesus is that, at the age of twelve, he was ‘in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions’. (Luke 2:46) And he continued doing so: in the New Testament, Jesus posed about one hundred and twenty different questions. And he asked different types of questions: those which answer a question with a question; those which silence dishonest questioners; those which are a retort. Most can be taken on different levels. The fact that many of the questions are rhetorical enhances their effectiveness in leading us to think, and that is what they are intended to do. They give us the opportunity of entering into a dialogue with Jesus, one in which he takes the lead. In this book Owen O'Sullivan poses again the questions of Jesus presented to us in the Gospels. He suggests to the reader to imagine Jesus sitting close by asking them, not as an interrogator, but as an intimate and trusted friend, leading us to an understanding of our relationship with God, with others, with ourselves and with nature. The questions of Jesus invite us on a journey of discovery. Their purpose is to bring us to know, accept, and love ourselves as the first step in doing the same towards God and neighbour.