Sunday, March 05, 2023
Sunday Reflection: Arguing with Jesus
As someone who is interested in advocacy, it has always been interesting to me to reflect on the way Jesus addressed tough questions-- often posed by "teachers of the law." (ahem)
Basically, he has a few ways of responding:
1) Parables, which are clearly identified as fictional stories meant to make a moral point.
2) Simple questions, such as "who here is without sin?" or "whose face is on that coin?"
3) References to and quotations of scripture, often Isaiah, given without much explanation.
What Jesus doesn't do is argue with people in the traditional sense-- he doesn't offer discrete facts at length to make or refute a point throughout a dialogue or monologue. Isn't that intriguing?
I'm sure there is something to that. Here's my guess on what that is:
The methods Jesus uses don't treat the questioner as an opponent, someone whose will must be overborne through force of logic. Instead, he uses these tools that will lead the questioner down their own path, to their own internal dialogue, centered on their own reason, experiences, and principles.
Probably, that is a pretty good thing for a teacher of the law to take in.
