Ask the next Question
Jesus has some hard words for his disciples in today’s Gospel. Jesus
says, “If you hurt or even put a stumbling block before one of these
vulnerable ones – it would be better for you if millstone – which is a
huge rock - were tied around your neck and you be thrown into the sea.
IF your hand or foot or eye causes you to sin--- it would be better for
you to cut it off or tear out your eye.” Ouch.
This sounds a bit like Shariah law in which great punishments are given
for sin. A hand is chopped off if someone steals. A girl is whipped for
not covering her head. When I look at those punishments, I flinch. But is
Jesus, who teaches nonviolence and turning the other cheek suggest the
same thing? It’s certainly firey language.
Let’s take a look at the context. In included the last paragraph from the
Gospel from last week. It ended with Jesus teaching his disciples about
what it means to be great in the kingdom of God – which it is NOT the
same as what it means to be great or to be important in their culture or
ours. Instead, Jesus teaches them – and us - that “whoever wants to be
first must be LAST of all and SERVANT of all.” Then Jesus does
something that would be completely surprising to his disciples. He takes
a child –remember, children had no status whatsoever in that culture –
and puts the child in front of them.
In today’s Gospel, which is the next verse, Jesus is still holding that
child when he says these harsh words to his disciples. The words are
clearly hyperbole. Jesus does not want a bunch of one-eyed, one legged,
one armed followers. But Jesus does want the disciples to see that the
way their culture gives status NO LONGER APPLIES. In God’s
kingdom, the least, the most vulnerable, the poor, the outsider, the child,
is to be treated with honor and dignity. Those who are vulnerable should
be treated with greater care.
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And perhaps Jesus uses such strong language so that the disciples will
listen and will pay attention. For even though they have been traveling
with Jesus and hearing his words and seeing him heal people who are
outsiders and challenge the exclusionary ways that the scribes and
pharisees interpret the law – it is still hard for them to see the radical
changes that Jesus is preaching and teaching and asking them to
embrace.
Change doesn’t come easily. John tells Jesus that they “saw someone
casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he
was not following US.” John – and probably the other disciples –
somehow thought they were protecting Jesus and their own status as
disciples by trying to stop someone else from using Jesus’ name to heal.
But Jesus tells them that they are not in an exclusive club. All who do
good things should be encouraged – even if that good deed is as simple
as offering a glass of cold water. There is room for all in God’s
kingdom.
Change is hard – for them and for us. Sometimes the way that things
have “always been done” is not the way that God is leading us forward.
The question for the disciples then – and for us now – is whether the
traditions we love and culture that we are a part of, are supporting or are
they overshadowing and even subverting the message of Jesus. It’s a
question worth asking. But the disciples weren’t asking questions. They
assumed that they knew.
Asking questions. That is one thing that children can teach us. And
children can ask the darndest questions. Children want to know why and
how and what is that? They may ask: Is there a man in the moon? Where
is he? Does he have children? Why does the elephant have such a long
nose? Is 10,000 more than many? To a person with medical tape over
their eye, a child might ask: “Are you a pirate?” Children don’t filter
their questions. They just ask. After a friend of mine gave birth to her
second child – a 10 pound baby – her two year old daughter looked at
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her mother’s post-partum body and said to her, “Are you sure there isn’t
another baby in your tummy?” Luckily, her mother laughed.
Children ask questions, lots of questions. But somewhere along the way
of growing up, adults often stop asking questions. Granted you now
may have an answer for the question of, “is there a man in the moon and
where is he? And why does the elephant has a long nose? And you can
just decide whether 10,000 is more than many. As an adult, I hope you
are wise enough not to ask a woman who has just given birth if she
might have another baby in her tummy somewhere. She probably won’t
laugh. Some questions are good to not ask if you are older than two or
three years old.
But generally, asking questions and being curious, IS a good thing. You
have probably had a teacher say, “There’s no such thing as a bad
question or the only stupid question is one that isn’t asked.” And yet, as
people get older, we generally become less comfortable asking questions
-- especially in a group – maybe out of fear of feeling foolish or maybe
because we think we are supposed to know the answer. Or maybe
because we are just out of practice.
Writer Theodore Sturgeon is a believer in asking questions. He writes,
"Ask the next question." Ask the next question, and the one that
follows that, and the one that follows that. It's the symbol of
everything humanity has ever created, and is the reason it has been
created. This guy is sitting in a cave and he says, "Why can't man
fly?" Well, that's the question. The answer may not help him, but
the question now has been asked.
The next question is what? How? And so all through the ages,
people have been trying to find out the answer to that question.
We've found the answer, and we do fly. This is true of every
accomplishment, whether it's technology or literature, poetry,
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political systems or anything else. That is it. Ask the next question.
And the one after that.” 1
The disciples didn’t ask questions. Instead, they focus on who is right –
and who is wrong, who deserves status – and who should be silenced or
stopped. But those are not the questions that Jesus is interested in.
These are not the things that Jesus wanted them or wants us to focus on.
These are the things that divide people– often they are petty things in the
big scheme of things -- into them and us and these are the things that still
divide people today. When we neglect to ask questions, to have curiosity
about our neighbor and the world around us and the person that we do
not know, our world gets smaller and we turn inward instead of outward.
We focus on serving ourselves and not on caring for the “other.” 2
Over the last two years I have taken some courses in spiritual listening –
listening for God and helping others listen for God too. And I have
learned that asking questions of another person – and really listening for
the response without thinking about what you are going to say in
response – is one of the most gracious and loving things that you can do.
Jesus challenges us to care for the most vulnerable, for the neighbor, for
the child, for the lonely and the “other.” So how can we do this? Perhaps
we can best care for others by first fostering more curiosity about our
community, our neighbor, the “other” and simply asking more
questions? And then ask God to help you listen deeply for the response
– before we act. For we don’t always know what kind of care or help is
needed. Following Jesus, we can ask for God’s help in learning to care
for the “other” and one another just as Jesus loves and cares for us. May
you have fun asking questions! And in doing so, may you receive Jesus’
blessing: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Amen.
1 Asking the Next Question by Theodor Sturgeon
2 https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Amy-Redwine-Mark-9.pdf
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Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church + Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane +
September 29, 2024