Matthew 16: 13-19: 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

It's the questions that really count. Too often we attach greater value to stating correct answers than we do to shaping good questions. Questions are powerful things. They can make us look informed or ignorant, they can impress as well as embarrass.

What makes a good question, good? Many answers could be given. Among others, good questions probe. Good questions get below the surface, if you will. Good questions, by their very form and content tend to steer away from or even disallow the more superficial. Moreover, good questions tend to evoke the bigger picture concerning the matter at hand. Good questions, in other words, go deeper and wider.

 When I have the chance to sit and have a chat with someone for the first time, I often, though not always, like to ask, “So, what's your life about?” This often brings a raised eyebrow or a look of confusion. Several months ago I asked this question of a woman with whom I struck up a conversation at, if you can believe it, an evening of Scottish ballroom dancing at a hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She replied, “Wow! That's an interesting question. Hmmm. . . . let me see . . . What is my life about? . . .well, I am a single mother raising two kids trying to adjust to life in a foreign country while coping with a new job.” This woman replied by sharing some pretty significant life issues: single parenting, cross-cultural, cross national living, and new employment. Good questions are able to draw out the more significant, be they concerning a lecture on great American poets or getting to know someone at an evening of Scottish ballroom dancing.

Good questions tend to draw out varying levels of the personal: questions that push beyond the third-person, if you will, questions that press for something beyond “they” and “it” to “I” and “we.” Good questions don't simply ask for information. Here at Finlandia we want to move students beyond memorization and regurgitation to critical engagement and thoughtful reflection. We want to help students learn how to think, not merely what to think. Good questions help to achieve this. While teaching outside the US , many years ago now, I recall a student raising his hand in the middle of a good discussion about some topic or another and saying, “Teacher, could you please just write the answer on the board so we can copy it down for the national exam.” Instructing for exams is different from educating for life. Finlandia is about the latter.

Jesus was also a good question-asker! Of all his great questions, I believe his best question ever was the one he asked the Father as he hung dying on the cross. (Perhaps we can reflect on that question another time.) In our reading for today, Matthew tells a story of Jesus asking his disciples a couple of good questions. The first: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” This first question sounds like Jesus is asking for his latest public opinion poll results, the leading responses: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another prophet. All of these miss the mark, of course, though the “polls” show that most get close, Jesus is some kind of prophetic figure, related to those of God's past.

Jesus follows his first question with a second: “Who do you say that I am?” Did you hear how quickly Jesus moves beyond the third-person language of “people” and “Son of Man.” Jesus is less concerned about public opinion than personal confession, it appears: “Who do you say that I am?” The more superficial is quickly outstripped by the more significant. Actually, Jesus never did do well at the superficial. His questions almost always probed deeper, digging below the surface, getting to what really matters. In the book of Hebrews we read: “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” [1] Such a word comes often in the form of a question, sharp and piercing, piercing, even to the bone.

In our story, Peter replies with “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” This has been the confession of the Christian Church ever since. Jesus of Nazareth was God's Son, the Savior, the one who bids us all “Come, and follow me.”

My sense is that Jesus continues the questioning even today, probing below the surface, bone deep, by his Spirit, asking the deeper questions, the personal questions, those that press for the truly significant: “Who is Jesus? What say you?” Amen.

[1] Hebrews 4:12.

-Rev. Dr. Philip Johnson

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