No Silly Questions! (Luke 2:46-47)

 


Sunday, December 29, 2024

 

First Sunday After Christmas


Luke 2:46-47


No Silly Questions!


Nothing quite gets my guard up as when I am in a classroom and the teacher tells us that “there is no such thing as a silly question”. There I was, quite happy and in the learning “flow”, and suddenly the prospect of comparing myself to my fellow students comes into the picture. Sure, the specific words were “no such thing”, but my mind always seems to immediately jump to the terror of asking a silly question in public.


We read today about the boy Jesus, and what his teachers thought about him. He wasn't afraid to ask questions, and they were amazed at his understanding as a result. The questions he asked demonstrated his amazing understanding.


It makes me wonder about the questions I ask: the questions I ask God in my prayers for others, the questions for myself, and the questions I ask God about himself. Often they are along the lines of “Dear God, may I please have this or that?”, or, “Dear God, could you please do this for that person?”, or, “Dear God, what do you think about this?” Am I afraid of asking God what he might think is a silly question? And, what do my questions demonstrate about my faith?


Interesting people ask interesting questions; abstract people ask abstract questions; practical people are interested in the practical. What type of questions do faithful people ask? Here, more than anywhere else, we should know there is no such thing as a silly question – we are, after all, aiming to have the faith of little children.


Something I’ve been trying to get away from is complaining about the weather. St Paul tells us to “be thankful”, but it’s hard when the day starts at stinking hot and only goes up from there, such as yesterday. It was so hot that I spent a fair amount of it on the back deck in the shade, splashing around with some buckets of water with my boy. It was then I realised – I could only have that kind of fun on a stinking hot day! And then, last night’s light show – the humidity had to get high enough to break, so that God could give me some evening entertainment to cap it all off. Maybe it’s a bit silly to ask God about the weather. But I got a pretty good answer. And you’ll get a pretty good answer to your questions, too.

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