Truth Spaces (2) Two Hundred and Ninety-Two

The most important truth spaces that have ever been opened up to humankind were asked by the greatest personality who has ever walked this earth, Jesus Christ. The four gospels record Jesus asking question after question, opening up truth spaces with all kinds of people. In his recent book All that Jesus Asks (Baker, 2010), Stan Guthrie has analyzed all these questions - eighty-five in Matthew, sixty-four in Mark, ninety-one in Luke and fifty-two in John. That’s two hundred and ninety two questions. Time after time Jesus invited people into safe spaces at deeper levels, in the new reality called the Kingdom of God. Of course, Jesus’ commands and actions ranged far wider than just the questions he asked, and often he himself was asked questions by others who were desperate for help, or sometimes wanting to trap him.


Do you find it extraordinary that 292 times Jesus engages humankind by unforgettable questions, yet rarely do we spend much time on them? Questions may uniquely take us to deep places because they reveal so much about the questioner and make special demands of those who are questioned.