Good Question

Have you ever met a “question talker?” They most often appear when trying to decide where to go for dinner. Maybe you’ve heard this one:

“Where do you want to go to dinner?”
“Hmmm . . . Where do you want to go to dinner?”

But dinner is not the only topic that draws them out. These may also ring familiar:

“Do you want to go to the store with me?”
“Does it look like I want to go to the store with you?”“Luke, did you finish mowing the lawn?”
“What would you say if I said, ‘No’?”“Did you order me the meatball sub?”
“Would a ham and Swiss work?”

Now, I never said that being a question talker is a bad thing. Asking well-timed, reflective questions can be a great addition to the parenting toolbox. For example, when your high school student asks, “Dad, did I do a good job on my project?” you have several fantastic options:

“Do you think you did the best job you could have done?”

“Are you happy with your grade based on the effort you put into the project?”

“Are you proud, really proud, that your name is on that project?”

Many times, asking a well-designed, thoughtful, and probing question can guide us to finding real answers. As Jesus traveled the countryside, He not only taught the crowds, but He also asked a lot of carefully constructed questions. In fact, He was great at it. Even when people tried to trap Him with the most shrewd and cunning questions, He had a way of turning their words around to reveal a profound truth hidden within.

My favorite example of this happened when a group of religious leaders tried to entangle Jesus in a political snare. They started with a little political posturing, telling Jesus how honest, truthful, and courageous He was. Basically, they were saying, “We are here to learn from the best!” Then they asked him a “gotcha” question, which went something like this: “Should we be paying taxes to the Romans? The folks who are unjustly occupying our land and cruelly oppressing our people?” However, their question was far from honest.

If Jesus answered their question by saying, “No, you should not pay your taxes because God is the only true Emperor,” He would be arrested for subversion against the Roman government. However, if He answered, “Yes, by all means, pay your taxes,” He would alienate a majority of His Jewish followers who were barely surviving under Rome’s massive tax burden. Either answer lands Jesus in a lot of hot water.

Jesus knew what was really happening in that moment. So He counters with a question that peels back the layers of their crafty rhetoric to reveal their true intentions.

“Why do you test me, hypocrites?”
~ Matthew 22:18

Then, before answering their original question, Jesus asks for some clarification regarding the Roman tax.

Question:

“Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then He said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?”
~ Matthew 22:19–20

Answer:

They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
Then He [Jesus] replied, “Give the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, and the things that are God’s to God.”
~Matthew 22:21–22

They gave Jesus two options, A or B, and Jesus completely flips their question around. With His question and response, Jesus reminds us that we cannot reduce everything to simple binary arguments. Not every decision or problem can be simplified into a multiple-choice question that divides us into well-ordered camps. Real, honest questions should help us better define our position and perspective.

So, if Caesar can keep the coins with his image on them, what currency does God want? What does it mean to give “to God the things that are God’s”? According to Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven uses a different currency with a different image emblazoned on it. I believe that this new currency—the currency that counts to God, the currency that has any lasting value—has a familiar image. Yours. This is the only currency that God is interested in having.

We hope you will join us for our latest episode of The Trail: Encounters. In Episode 19 we discuss the power and importance of liturgy with Father Nick Stavlund.

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