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Jesus Questions
Some years ago, I ran across an article about Holden Village, a
retreat in Washington state. I’ve never been there, but I’m told
that it’s a beautiful place for meditation, reflection and
spiritual growth.
The article was about how one person was inspired to challenge
others in the Holden community to write a Lenten devotional
booklet based solely on questions Jesus asked. Pastor Scott
Kershner allowed his writers to pick their own Jesus questions,
no matter how often they duplicated one another.
He wrote, “All great teachers ask probing questions, challenging
their hearers to examine their assumptions and values and
commitments. Jesus does this relentlessly and intentionally,
seeking to shake our imaginations and our hearts free …”
We thought the idea was intriguing and shamelessly borrowed it
for this year’s edition of Reformation’s Daily Devotions for
Lent.
According to Pastor Kershner, 214 Jesus questions are recorded
in the Gospels. We have cataloged most of them and found that
many are duplicated word for word in Matthew and Mark. Some are
closely mirrored in Luke. John does offer some different
dialogue here and there, but the totality of different Jesus
questions is not as great as we might have imagined when we set
off on this adventure.
There are no softballs: Jesus never asked easy questions.
Thanks to our brave writers who were willing to tackle difficult
topics and share their spiritual journeys. Writing about Jesus
questions was a challenge for the Holden community, and it’s
been a challenge for the members of Reformation Lutheran Church
as well.
Thanks also to the Daily Devotions behind-the-scenes team:
Marcia Werts, copy editor; Lori East, cover design; Debbie
Stephens, production manager; Mark Yeskie, webmaster; and our
spiritual gurus Pastor Lowell and Pastor Kristin.
May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be
acceptable to God and received as a blessing by all who share
these moments of daily devotion.
For the Daily Devotions team,
Dallas Cronk
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