Jesus and Q&A

Something a person should learn in writing for a newspaper is to make sure a pronoun clearly refers to its correct antecedent.

Case in point: I recently saw a large welcome sign at the Indiana-Ohio border. The placard carried the emblem of the Buckeye State plus the following declarative sentence -- "Find it here."

Find what?

What is the antecedent for the pronoun "it?" The reader is left to guess.

Find work? Find happiness? Find the answer to life's most persistent questions?

No doubt a marketing firm was paid a hefty fee by the state of Ohio for the pithy three-word phrase.

Maybe the slogan, full of intended ambivalence, is a work of genius because the meaning is in the eye of the beholder.

Ambivalence is not terribly helpful, however, when the desire is to understand clearly.

Another example

Travel for any length on a busy highway or a well-used stretch of interstate and this four-word sentence eventually will be witnessed through the front windshield: "Jesus is the answer."

Uh-huh. Given my own faith profession, I won't disagree, but I will confess some confusion, because what's the question here?

Once again, purposeful ambivalence seems to be the point of the phrase, but for those who value clarity, such sentences are maddening.

What may be needed here is the Socratic method.

Socrates, the great fifth-century B.C.E. philosopher, believed in asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking, to draw out ideas and to expose underlying presuppositions.

An answer without a preceding question isn't helpful so I suggest some queries that perhaps Socrates might approve.

"Are you finding it hard to discover a purpose for living? JESUS IS THE ANSWER.

"Are you wondering what love really is and who can exemplify love in this life?" JESUS IS THE ANSWER.

"Do you feel no one understands the trouble in which you find yourself?" JESUS IS THE ANSWER.

Learning

In my religion classes at SEMO, I try not to give definitive answers to theological questions.

It is far better when a student asks good questions because in only this way is the path to understanding revealed.

I like to leave a trail where answers may be located and invite students to find them.

Along the trail are different answers and students may choose those which resonate with their spirits.

What I've just described won't work in a lot of disciplines: math, engineering, chemistry, et al., where there are precise and correct answers discovered logically.

We're talking about theological answers here and about preceding faith questions and the way toward enlightenment is through discovery.

Even when questions are asked, instead of direct replies, the central character of the Christian gospels encouraged thinking.

The Jesus of Nazareth found in the pages of the New Testament challenged his contemporary listeners and, by extension, future readers, by not spoon-feeding them answers.

• "Where are you going?" they asked. "Come and see," the Master replied. (John 1:38-39/New Living Translation).
• The Pharisees asked, "Teacher, is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?" Knowing their evil intent ... he said to them, "Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what is God's." (Matthew 22:17,18a,21/New International Version).
• The scribes and Pharisees said, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?" When they kept on questioning Him, (Jesus) straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:4-5, 7/New Revised Standard Version).

Reflection

Terry Heick, founder of TeachThought, an organization devoted to helping teachers in K-12 classrooms, once offered the following insight:

"Questioning is the art of learning. Learning to ask important questions is the best evidence of understanding there is, far surpassing the temporary endorphins of a 'correct' answer."

I can't say it any better. Jesus of Nazareth spent his earthly ministry doing many things, including teaching. As an educator in what was a mobile first-century classroom in both the Galilee and in Judea, he encouraged questions but bottom line -- Jesus wanted his listeners to think about what they've heard and then act on it.