An Invitation to Conversation

Scripture — Matthew 6:7-11 (NRSV)

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.

Devotion

I am intrigued by how often Jesus asked questions, and how his questions invited responses, especially with his disciples and close followers. Consider a few of my own favorite examples.

On a journey to Caesarea Philippi after Jesus had performed many public miracles, in a private and intimate moment with his disciples Jesus asked them: “Who do people say that I am?” He followed this with a more personal question: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:27-29). On another trip, this time to Capernaum, the disciples were apparently arguing among themselves. Upon their arrival Jesus asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” (Mark 9:33).

Both Mark (5:25-34) and Luke (8:43-48) record a time when a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years reached out from a busy crowd and touched Jesus’ cloak, and was miraculously healed. Both writers note that Jesus asked a question afterward. Mark’s account records the question as “Who touched my cloak?” Though he seems to suggest that the question was addressed to the crowd, it was the disciples who answered.

Although this devotion won’t be published until June, I am writing it toward the end of Eastertide, when a commonly read story is the account of Jesus appearing to two disciples on their way to Emmaus. Shortly after joining the pair, Jesus asked them a seemingly simple and open-ended question: “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They responded with a more rhetorical question: “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” Jesus then asked another question, again inviting a response: “What things?” (Mark 24:17-19).

Readers of the Old Testament will recognize that these sorts of questions are in keeping with the character of God. After the man and woman ate the fruit and were trying to hide (Genesis 3:9-11), God asked Adam a question: “Where are you?” After the man answered, God followed with two more questions: “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” God also asked memorable questions of Moses, Jonah, Job, and Ezekiel. I think my favorite is a question God asked of Elijah after the prophet had fled from Jezreel: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” After a sort of conversation between the two prompted by the question, God then repeats the exact same question (1 Kings 19:9-13).

Now it should be clear that an omniscient God already knows the answer to any question he might ask. So the purpose of asking isn’t to gain knowledge. But what about Jesus, as the incarnate Son, when he emptied himself and took on the fullness and finitude of humanity? I don’t know if we can answer for certain what this meant in terms of his knowledge. Yet there are numerous indications that Jesus knew even the thoughts of those he was speaking to. Matthew 9:4 and 12:25 as well as Luke 5:22, 6:8 and 11:17 all explicitly note that Jesus knew the thoughts of those he was speaking to at least on those occasions. The fact that he asked the disciples what they were arguing about indicates he knew they had been arguing, and his follow up suggests he knew the subject of the argument. And Jesus certainly knew “the things that have taken place in these days,” without having to ask the pair on the road to Emmaus.

So why does he ask the questions? I don’t think Jesus was feigning ignorance in order to deceive people. I think the explanation is much simpler. Jesus was inviting his followers into conversation with him. And through conversation, he was inviting them into a deeper relationship. Each question he asked invited a person or persons to engage with him, sharing thoughts, or hopes, or concerns. His questions most often launched deeper and more personal interactions. We certainly see this kind of interaction in the question God twice asked Elijah. The question invited Elijah to share his frustrations and led to one of the most amazing revelations God made to a person in the Old Testament.

Consider the Lord’s Prayer which Matthew records in the Sermon on the Mount—a passage I have been exploring for many months in my Life for Leaders devotions_.  _In introducing it, Jesus warns against using “empty phrases” as though prayer were some sort of formula that manipulates God into granting our requests. He then explicitly states, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

And yet Jesus then goes on to include several requests in his model prayer, including: “Give us today our daily bread.” We know from what Jesus said that the point of those requests is not to provide information God lacks, nor is the prayer a sort of magic formula to get what we want from God like the “empty phrases” used by idol worshipers. Rather, I’m convinced the point is relational. We are invited not just to spend time with God, but to pour out our deepest concerns and needs, as well as the praise God deserves. We are invited both to speak and to listen. In short, God has invited us to a great conversation. Just like the way Jesus asked questions of his followers and invited a dialogue, God today still invites us into conversation.

Prayer is conversation. And conversation is relational. God desires us to be in relationship with him—which is the very reason Jesus came to dwell on earth.  There are implications of this model for how we lead, which we will explore tomorrow. But for today, just ponder what a great invitation we have.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread (Matthew 6:11).