“If you are the Christ, tell us.”

But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer me or let me go. Hereafter, the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.”

Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?”

So He said to them, “You say rightly that I am.”

–Luke 22:67-70

 

Sometimes, people ask a question when they’re not really seeking truth. When they think they know and are only asking to see if someone agrees with them or not. They are loaded questions that will unleash a pre-determined response upon the One who answers.

Leaders of men looked down on God Himself that day and asked this sort of question.

He gave them the dignity of an honest answer, but not before He called them out on what they were doing, and reminded them who was really in charge:

You have already decided what you’re going to do. You have already decided that what I say won’t make a difference. So you will go through with your mock justice,

but after this, I will take my rightful place in power.

And that is kind of the sum of things. You have shown Yourself to us. We face eternal wisdom, and half of our interaction with You is just trying to get You to agree with us, to do what we say. It is not trying to learn, not trying to understand, but trying to enforce our will.

You see through to the heart of our questions. You know who is trying to understand and who is just trying to get their way. How few even see that they are speaking to the One in the place of the highest power?

 

Powerful One-

Teach me to come to You open, and ask questions that are actually asking.

You know better than I do. Yet, how often do my questions just push for You to agree with me? How rarely do they depart my mouth bearing true openness to whatever You answer?

Do I approach You assuming that I know what You will say, that I can guess how You will proceed? When did my concept of You become so simple? When did I start believing I can predict what You will do, what You will want?

You allow us to think what we choose, but we so quickly decide that our thoughts don’t need guidance.

Mine do.

Help me to trust who You are, to believe what You say. Even when it does not line up with what I understand. If I am to be open toward something, help me to be open toward anything and everything You say. To discern what is truly from You, but then, to hear what You say for what it is and adjust my reality to line up with it, not the other way around.

When what You say doesn’t seem to make sense, help me remember WHO it is coming from: the One who stood against the entire administration of Israel, died at the hands of Rome, denied Death its own authority to hold Him there, and sat at the right hand of the power of God, just like He said He would in answer to a question that wasn’t really asking.

Two of those don’t even fit into my realm of reference. Facing human authorities I can picture, but winning against death…after You died? What does sitting at the hand of power even mean?

So when what You say makes me question, help me remember that it’s coming from past my realm of reference…and the source has proven itself very, very trustworthy.