Jesus Asks a Question: “Have you not read?”

Jesus Asks a Question: “Have you not read?”

The Grand Inquisitor. Messiah Jesus was a Master of asking questions: some were open-ended, others were very pointed; some were out of curiosity, others were challenging; some seemed rhetorical, others seemed painfully obvious; some were to reveal Himself, others were to guide the other into self-understanding; some were intentionally provocative, others were to kick-start a conversation; some questions were asked to explore a topic to deepen understanding and stretch toward the truth; some were leading questions that He designed to suggest a particular answer, and others were questions in response to questions asked of Him; some were hypotheticals to stimulate the imagination, other questions were used  by Him as stepping stones to think logically from one point to the next. Jesus used questions to dignify the listener, letting that person know that He is taking that person seriously and listening carefully. Many of His questions were acts of friendship and used to pursue a more profound intimacy with someone. Jesus asked very few yes-no questions, and since time was usually irrelevant for Him when He was with people, He rarely asked a “when” question. Several biblical scholars have studied the gospels with Christ’s questions in mind, and they have literally counted a total of 307 questions in His various conversations and teachings. It seems that a worthy spiritual exercise when considering the many questions of Jesus is that we ask ourselves… should I take His questions personally, as if He was asking us that question right now?

“Have you not read?” (Matthew 12:3, 5; 19:4; 21:16; 21:42; 22:31). The Greek word for “read” means to learn for oneself by reading, and the root word is to “know” by reading, which implies understanding deeply and accurately at a personal level.

CAUTION: SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. In this era of amazing advances in technology, there are sometimes unexpected consequences that turn out to be harmful to our Christian faith. One of these harmful improvements is the flood of believers who read scripture online, on the smart phone, on the computer screen. I’m convinced there should be a warning label on every one of the online Bibles… CAUTION: SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. So many of us now read the Word like we would read our emails or social media or the daily news. We skim the material hurriedly, superficially, carelessly. We skim the Scripture. Skim-reading the Bible doesn’t really bury the seed very deeply, of course. And in our skimming, we would be more likely to just skip over an important word or phrase without thinking, a word that could be vital to the whole passage, a phrase packed with meaning, a quick question that deserves an answer. The fact is, the Bible is full of single words, short phrases, and deep questions that are too important to simply gloss over as if they weren’t there.

Full Passages when Jesus asked His famous Question, ‘Have you not read?’  

(1.) When confronting the Pharisees on the Sabbath… “When the Pharisees saw His disciples picking grain to eat, they said to Jesus, ‘Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath!’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did, when he and his companions became hungry… or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?” (Matthew 12:3-7);

(2.) When teaching the Pharisees about marriage… “Have you not read, that God who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and for this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? Consequently, they are no longer two, but one flesh.”  (Matthew 19:1-6);

(3.) When correcting the Temple elders on Palm Sunday… “When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that Jesus had done, and the children who were shouting out in the Temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ these elders became indignant and said to Jesus, ‘Do you hear what they are saying?’ And Jesus replied to them, ‘Yes! Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have prepared praise for Yourself'”? (Matthew 21:14-17);

(4.) When quoting Scripture to the Temple elders… “Jesus said to them, ‘Did you never read in the Holy Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This came about from Lord Yahweh, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (Matthew 21:42);

(5.) When correcting the Sadducees… “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures or the power of God…. Regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I AM the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living’!” (Matthew 22:29-33).

Jesus and Torah’s Original Intent. Jesus never shied away from entering a rabbinic debate about the Law and its implications for daily life. He wanted to reveal a fuller understanding of Torah. He wanted to explain the spirit of the Law and its original intent instead of being content with the superficial letter of the Law by the rabbinic authorities. He wanted to broaden the implications of certain Jewish laws, offering His own distinctive interpretation on specific verses. By sharing examples of how He interprets Scripture, Jesus wanted to provide an example of how other verses of the Law could be interpretated. Jesus wanted to show His disciples how to move from ritual obedience of the Law to an inner, heart-felt reverence and faith. Jesus wanted to raise the moral and ethical standards by revealing a righteousness of the heart and not the outward righteousness of mere observation of the commands. Jesus said that disciples must show a greater righteousness than the scribes and Pharisees. The greater righteousness involves a relationship with Christ instead with the dead letter of the Law, and allowing Him to change your heart and life.

Strengthening the Law. When Jesus claimed that He wanted to “fulfill’ the Law, not “abolish” it, Jewish hearers would have understood His terms in a particular way. To “abolish” meant to cancel a law through misinterpretation or by sheer disobedience. To “fulfill” meant to preserve it, to sustain that law by properly interpreting it. So Jesus is engaging in a rabbinic debate about proper interpretation of the Law. Someone had evidently suggested that through His unique interpretation He is in effect canceling the Law, nullifying what has been accepted and in writing for centuries. Jesus disagreed. Hebrew scholar David Bivin paraphrased Jesus’ response this way… “Do not suppose that I have any intention of undermining Scripture by misinterpreting it. My purpose is to establish and maintain the knowledge and observance of God’s word. My intent is not weaken or negate God’s written instruction, but to sustain and establish it through correct interpretation. I would never invalidate the Torah by removing something from it through misinterpretation. Heaven and earth would sooner disappear than something from the Torah.” (Bivin, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus).

Jesus loved Torah. He was an observant Jew who cherished the Law. He accepted the authority of God’s Word in what we now know as the Old Testament. He felt strongly about the importance and permanence of Torah. He basically said that the Law of Moses would never cease to exist. When Jesus said in M. 5:18, “Truly, assuredly, neither the smallest letter of the alphabet nor the tiniest little mark on one letter would ever be removed from Torah,” He started out with “Amen.” That word that has a root in the word for truth means truly, assuredly, so be it, this is the truth. This was unusual, because most times someone would say Amen at the end of a prayer or special teaching, affirming the truth about what’s been said. But Jesus used Amen before He even said anything. Jesus is revealing His authority to speak the truth, declaring His words to be truthful before He says it. Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Jesus Is the Living Torah. Another way to understand Jesus “fulfilling” the Torah is that He is indeed the Living Word. He is the Law. He is the Author of all that is true. He fulfilled Torah by fulfilling the OT prophecies about Him, through His teachings saturated with truth, through His actions performing God’s will. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the Law.

Deeper Meanings. In His words that immediately followed His comments on the Torah, Jesus repeatedly used the formula, “But I say to you.” He is declaring something rather outrageous in the eyes of the rabbinic authorities. Jesus is claiming that He has equal authority to the established Law. He is saying, You may have heard the Law means this, but I am here telling you that the Law actually means that. He is declaring total, divine authority. He is claiming that He knows the original intent of the Law, as if He wrote it Himself. He is telling those around Him that He knows why it was written in the first place. I am here to tell you the Word hidden behind the Word, Jesus is saying, the intended meaning that God was thinking about all along. I don’t want to alter the Torah in any way, Jesus declared, I want to reveal the deeper meanings hidden in the legal meaning. I want to clarify the Law so you truly understand what it means. “Like other rabbis and teachers, Jesus developed His own approach within the parameters of ancient Jewish faith and practice. He sought to reform and revitalize, not to destroy or replace. Jesus placed the meaning of Torah on a firmer footing.”  (Dr. Brad Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian).

Questions Jesus Asked, from A to Z. One could learn the whole Gospel story by simply studying the questions that Jesus asked and their context:

a. “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:13-18);

b. “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:15);

c. “Why are you so fearful?” (Mark 4:35-41);

d. “What does it profit a person if he gains the world and loses his soul?” (Matt. 16:24-26);

e. “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ but do not do what I ask?” (Luke 6:46);

f. “How many loaves of bread do you have?” (Matt. 15:34);

g. “Do you want to leave Me as well?” (John 6:67);

h. “If you merely love those who love you in return, what reward do you deserve?” (Matt. 5:46; one of twelve different questions in His Sermon on the Mount);

i. “Where are the other nine?” (Luke 17:17);

j. “Which is easier to say, ‘Be forgiven” or ‘Be healed’?” (Mark 2:9);

k. “If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe when I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12);

l. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (John 9:35);

m. “Wouldn’t every one of you search for the lost sheep until you found it?” (Luke 15:4);

n. “Dear woman, where are your accusers?” (John 8:10);

o. “Don’t you first have to bind the strong man?” (Matt. 12:29);

p. “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Mark 10:46);

q. “My friend, are you really going to betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (one of several questions in Gethsemane in Matt. 26, Luke 22, John 18);

r. “What is this conversation you are holding with each other?” (Luke 24:18);

s. “Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He returns?” (Luke 18:8);

t. “Why are you bothering this woman?” (John 12, Matt. 26, Mark 14);

u. “Which of the three men was a neighbor to the victim?” (Luke 10:31);

v. “Do you expect the wedding guests to mourn while the bridegroom is still with them?” (Matt. 9, Mark 2);

w. “Why are you trying to trap Me, you hypocrites?” (Matt. 22:18);

x. “Are you dull-witted and without understanding like the others?” (Mark 7);

y. “Are you still sleeping?” (Mark 14:37);

z. “Is it okay to do a good deed on the Sabbath?” (Matt. 12, one of many questions when healing on the Sabbath);

Some Bonus Questions:

aa. “Dear woman, why are you weeping?” (John 10:13-14);

bb. “Do you love Me?” (John 21:15-19);

cc. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34);

dd. “Do you think that I came to give peace on earth?” (Matt. 10:34, Luke 12:51);

ee. “If you don’t believe what Moses wrote, how can you believe what I say?” (John 5:47);

ff. “Do you understand what I have just done for you?” (John 13:12);

gg. “How much longer do I have to put up with you?” (Matt. 17:17, Mark 9:19, Luke 9:41);

hh. “Is it not written that My house is a house of prayer for all nations?” (Mark 11:7).