Twenty Questions Jesus Asked
Ongoing study
As regular visitors know, my serious challenge this year is to discover more about the historic man, Jesus of Nazareth, who walked in the dust of the Middle East over 2000 years ago, and hopefully disabuse my mind of erroneous ideas I’ve picked up from childhood on. I’ve previously commented on my progress, but you might have been forgiven for thinking I’d given up the task. Not so, guys, not so.Turns out it’s a colossal task.
Sharing the extent of my research would be boring in the extreme, but I do want to mention one book that has engaged my thinking at a different level. It’s Twenty Questions Jesus Asked: And How They Speak to Us Today, by John Pritchard. The author, now retired, has been a regular pastor, an Archdeacon, and a Bishop; a teacher and writer and all-round challenger of Christians anywhere.
It’s an easy read, each chapter focusing on a single question Jesus is reported in the gospels to have asked.
What are you looking for?
Why are you afraid of?
Who do you say that I am?
What do you want me to do for you?
What are you discussing with each other?
He – Pritchard not Jesus! – begins each chapter with a lively firsthand account of the relevant incident, as if from an eye-witness at the time. And, as with fiction in any genre, that approach is both engaging and immediate. Once you’re pulled in, he turns the spotlight slowly round to focus on you the reader, challenging you to think how the question would and does make you feel if directed at you today. Clever and effective. And he leaves pointers for reflection and contemplation at the end of each chapter, so setting a measured pace. Though it’s light and accessible reading, there’s no rush to gallop through, meditation and personal engagement are part of the suggested process.
The rest of my pile of books requires more intense concentration, so this one lightened my mood and gave me material for reflection, which was just what I needed at this juncture when there’s a lot going on in life. Helps to provide perspective. And the ‘So What?’ element is why I’m studying this topic after all. How strong/justified are my foundations? What difference does/should it all make in my life?
