Friday, March 11, 2016

In our last visit we discovered that the best answer to a question is often another question. Jesus used this communication skill many times. In Mark 10 you find Jesus teaching a crowd of people. Some Pharisees joined the crowd and interrupted Him, trying to test Him, by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Not skipping a beat Jesus responded with a question of His own, but with a twist. He asked them, “What did Moses command you?” They thought they had the upper hand when they accurately answered, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” By asking them what the Bible says on the subject it opened the door for Him to give a more thorough answer than what they had given. Yes, Moses permitted divorce, but Jesus pointed out that that permission was to protect the innocent party. Jesus said, “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law. But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female and when they got married they became one flesh.” Having taken them back to the beginning, God’s original plan, was that what He had joined together, “let man not separate.” Jesus often responded to a question by asking, “What does the Scripture say.” If you want to provide the best answer to a question it is always good to ask if God has already spoken on the issue. If He has, that should be your answer. If He hasn’t, then craft an answer that is consistent with other related issues or don’t offer an answer at all.