Matthew 22:46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
An Answer or an Argument?
Kids are curious. They are not embarrassed to ask questions, and they ask a lot of questions. That is how they learn. You see a little rug crawler who will grab things that go straight to the mouth. He is gorging his senses, seeing what things taste like, smell like, and look like. You have never wondered what your coffee table tastes like, but your one-year old does. She is learning.
Imagine what you could learn if you asked the right questions to the right person. Imagine if God were literally in the room with you right now. Think of all the things you could learn if you just asked. Now God the Son was with many people who never learned a thing because they weren’t curious or humble enough to ask. If we would all talk less and ask more, we would learn a lot more than we do.
Matthew 22 is summed up with the words, “And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.” There are three examples of antagonists asking Jesus questions, but since they did not get what they wanted, they just stopped asking. What did they want? Did they want an answer? No, they wanted an argument. You cannot get an answer when you are asking for an argument.
The first example is of the Pharisees and the Herodians, who represented Rome. Normally the Pharisees and the Herodians were not on speaking terms, but they had a common enemy, Jesus. The Herodians asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?” They were trying to pit one authority against another, the ecclesiastical authority of the Pharisees against the authority of Rome and Herod.
Jesus gave a masterful answer, but the people asking the question did not learn the lesson from the answer because they didn’t ask for an answer. They asked for an argument.
Verse 23 gives us the second example. It says, “The same day came to him the Sadducees , which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him.” They came up with this crazy story about a lady whose husband died. Then she married his brother. Then he died. This happened several times. The Sadducees said, “You believe in the resurrection. Whose wife will she be at the resurrection?”
They weren’t asking a question; they were making a statement. They wanted an argument. Jesus again gave a masterful answer, but these men missed it because they were not asking for an answer.
The third example is in verses 35-36. “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” This lawyer was trying to tempt Him, but again, Jesus gave a masterful answer. In all fairness to this lawyer, his response to Jesus as recorded in the gospel of Mark shows that he was “not far from the kingdom of God.” As it turns out, he was more open minded than the Pharisees wished from their messenger. I suppose they never sent him to inquire of Jesus again.
What questions are you asking God today? Are you asking for an answer or are you asking for an argument? It is important to realize that an open ear, a willing heart, and a right question can teach us much. Questions are the way to learn, but they must be the right question with the right attitude to the right person. When we do that, we can know everything that God wants us to know.