Good Conversations

I love talking about Jesus. I suppose that's a good thing since it's part of my job. But the times that I really love talking about him is when it's unscripted. When you're sitting at certain restaurant, as I was yesterday with some friends of mine. After lunch, we walked outside and we were standing around our cars. One of my friends asked the other one, "How are you doing?" It wasn't the kind of how are you question that you ask someone in passing but you really don't want to or care to hear the answer. It was the kind of how are you question where the person knows that I'm willing to stand here as long as it takes for you to tell me how you're really doing.
The askee (I'm pretty sure that's not a word) of the question began talking about how at college he's tried out some small groups and Bible studies, and he hasn't found one where he fit in. Actually, they made it clear to him that he didn't fit in. And he didn't fit in because he has a lot of questions. Tough questions about who God is, what He's doing, and things in Scripture that just don't make sense to us. Anytime he would ask these kind of questions, they would give a pat answer, one that doesn't really answer the question but instead tries to make it go away. They want a tame God (or should I say "god"). They want a god that they can put in a box. A god who never stretches them or moves them from where they are. A god they can explain away.
For some reason, we're afraid of people asking the tough questions about God. I'm not sure where this comes from, except that I guess we're afraid of what people will do if they ask a question and don't get the answer that they're expecting. But I think God is okay with the tough questions. Actually, I think he wants them.
In the Jewish tradition, it was the rabbi's job to know about God. They spent nearly their whole life, from the time they're only a few years old, learning about God, studying the Scriptures, and pouring over the texts. Their life's pursuit was learning about who God is. But one of the most important things that they did was ask questions. They asked questions about they things that they read. And sometimes, when they asked those questions, there was no easy answer. So they'd ask other rabbi's, and if they weren't able to answer that question, do you know what they did? They threw a party. They couldn't find an answer so they celebrated. They celebrated the fact they weren't on the same level as God, that they didn't have all the answers.
I think God likes tough questions. Just asking the question implies that we don't know and we believe, or at least hope, that he does. We're going to deal with a tough passage of Scripture on Sunday that doesn't have easy answers. At first, I wanted to skip this story, to glaze over it, but I think we'd miss out on so much of who God is if we did that. So we're going to ask some tough questions about God.
As we were standing around the cars talking, my heart broke for this friend. At school, he hasn't found the kind of friends that he could have these kind of conversations with. The kind of unscripted, from the heart Jesus conversations that draw us closer to Him. I hope he finds some soon. I can't do without them.