Ask Me Another

When Jesus saw that [the scribe] answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question. – Mark 12:34 (NRSV)

Is the honeycomb built by bees the most efficient way to store honey?

Is the dramatic escape in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” actually possible?

These are real questions from my experimental high school math class, designed for those of us not destined for the hard sciences.

We did not have to memorize formulas (phew!), but we did have to learn how to work in groups, how to take an abstract question, break it into steps, make a plan, and find the information we needed.

Perhaps most shocking of all for a math class: the work didn’t end when we found the right answer.

When the moment came and we felt assured of our answer, the teacher would come along with anotherquestion: How else could you approach this problem? What if we change the parameters a bit?

Jesus taught this way too—most of the time. But not this time. This time, Jesus let the conversation settle on a clear answer. I wonder if he regretted it given what happened next.

As soon as the answer feels settled, the crowd clams up. No one dared ask another question.

Too many of us grew up thinking that religion was a simple formula. If I do the right things, then God will surely reward me. If I have the right theology, or say the right prayer, then I’ll be all set.

But life has a way of changing the parameters, and often the answers that once felt so reliable start to teeter.

When they do, it helps to ask another question.

Prayer
Jesus teach me to love the wonder of another question more than the comfort of simple answers.