The Big Questions 1: Concerning Salvation
31 January, 2012
“The questions you ask in life will determine the quality of life that you live…” This statement recently caught my attention, because immediately it assumes that, (1) not all questions are high quality questions and that (2) we have a responsibility for the questions we ask and the outcomes they produce in our lives.
In Luke 20:1-8 Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees where they ask him a question concerning the source of His authority and actions. Jesus withholds the answer to their question and instead replies back to the Pharisees with a question concerning the source of authority for John’s baptism. The source of Jesus’ authority is the same “source” of authority by which John the Baptist operated, but because the Pharisees wouldn’t answer Jesus’ simple question about John’s baptism, He therefore refused to answer their question concerning the source of His authority.
There is nothing wrong with the question posed by the Pharisees in the text, but the heart and motivation behind the question is what Jesus discerned and then tested. If the Pharisees could not understand John’s authority (the lesser revelation) they would never understand Jesus’ authority (the greater revelation). The real issue at hand had to do with a conflict of ideology; how the Pharisees understood God’s salvation plan and purposes, in contrast to how Jesus understood God’s salvation plan and purposes. Jesus’ question was the test to see whether or not the Pharisees would think bigger than their “exclusive club” that limited God’s salvific purposes for the earth, or align with Jesus’ “inclusive Church” that included all of humanity as promised to the patriarch of faith, Abraham. Hence, Jesus asked the higher quality question that included all of humanity in its purpose, where by the Pharisees asked the lower quality question that excluded all others, or at minimum, made it almost impossible to meet the requirements of entry into their community.
The Pharisees interpretation of God’s salvation/restoration plan for the earth which is found in the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy) was simply too small for the whole earth to come through, yet they refused to enlarge their “exclusive front door” to allow humanity to enter in and find His grace, plan and purpose for their life. It’s no wonder they couldn’t find answers to their questions, they were simply asking the wrong ones.
What questions are you asking yourself today? What questions are keeping you small, because like the Pharisees, you refuse to take responsibility and confront the real issues of your heart? The higher quality questions will release you to see God’s greater plan and purpose for your life!
If your questions sound like; “Why does this always happen to me?” or “why can’t I ever…”, then unless you are prepared to do your homework and really search your heart for an answer, then simply ask the higher quality question of; “what can I learn from this?” or “what steps can I take to see this circumstance change?” Note that the high quality questions involve responsibility and change, where the low quality questions blame someone else or something else for the end result and requires no responsibility and no change. Whilst this attitude of blaming remains nothing will ever change and your quality of life will remain small and exclusive. The Pharisees in this text were expecting Jesus to fit within their small framework of the theology and weren’t prepared to except that their interpretation of Torah needed expanding, but this would involve a change in how they view God, in how they lived, and how they related to others.
The reason that Jesus asks us questions is not because He wants the answer, but, because he wants to empower us to take responsibility, change and transform our lives from a life that is “exclusively self-centred” and small, to a life that is “inclusively sacrificial (Jesus-centred)” and expansive. If the questions we ask lead us to a life that is expansive we- the church- will see His salvation/restoration plan come to pass on this earth much sooner than later. (Part II to come)
Lee Burns
Click here to read 'The Big Questions 2 - Concerning Justice'
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