Do you love me?

I thought I had come to the end of our series on questions as now I plan to turn to Holy Week and Easter.

And then I listened to Thought for the Day on Friday morning.

It was the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mervitz, and he began like this …

“A Rabbi was once asked, Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?

He replied, “Well, why not?”

Mayoutics is the name given to learning through asking challenging questions: the term comes from the Greek meaning mid wife.

Socrates argued that enquiry is the greatest tool we have to give birth to knowledge.

The best selling author, Warren Berger in his latest book, Four Beautiful Questions, the power of enquiry to spark break-through ideas demonstrates that the most creative and successful people tended to be expert questioners.  By mastering the art of enquiry, they raise the questions no one else is asking and find the answers everyone else is seeking.

Next week Jewish families around the world will be celebrating the festival of Passover at home, sitting around a dining table at a wonderful service called a Seder, where we recount our miraculous exodus from slavery in Egypt some three thousand years ago.

The key participants at our Seder tables will be the children.

The Passover story is told in response to the questions we encourage our children to ask.

As a result Passover could be dubbed the Festival of Questions.

Our tradition considers it a sacred task to inspire children to ask, probe and explore.

We take their questions seriously.  We respond by drawing on the healthy debate of our sages over many centuries, vibrant arguments that continue to challenge our intellect.

To question is not a rejection.  Rather, it is seen by our intensely discursive tradition as a way of refining our understanding of the truth and the part we must play in the universe.

Successful entrepreneurs will tell you that companies in their infancy start out by asking lots of questions.  Unfortunately they ask fewer and fewer questions as time goes on.

To succeed we must keep thinking in an inquisitive and challenging way, through continuously seeing the everyday world around us through fresh eyes and curious minds,

Questions can challenge assumptions and become the starting point of breath-taking innovation.

Asking the right question can produce a life-changing moment.

For example, instead of asking a demoralising question such as ‘why does this always happen to me?’ one can ask an empowering question such as ‘how can I use this experience to contribute to the lives of others’

Insightful questions motivate us more than resolutions

If you understand how to ask the right question you are more than half way to the answer.

Sometimes the questioning runs out.

Stuff happens that makes it hard to find the will to ask the right kind of question.

Maybe it is at that moment that Jesus has just the right question to ask of us.

We cannot get to Easter and the joy of resurrection without walking through the pain of Holy Week.

I hope we can take the opportunity to make that journey this week.

Take time for quiet reflection, maybe as this service finishes and share in our outside experience of Easter.

Go to the garden and to the courtyard, to the cross and to the grave … and discover through the pain a pathway to the newness of life that Christ brings.

Come to one or other of our reflective services as we gather together on Maundy Thursday to reflect on a body broken and blood shed for  us.

Come to the foot of the cross on Good Friday morning and walk through the town centre from Mid day.

Join us at the Quarry Car Park as we go up Cleeve hill to mark the start of Easter Day at 8-00, join us for breakfast and for our services next Sudnay.

In your mind’s eye live the journey as it brings you to new life as well.

Is thee one question to ask that opens the way to something new for you?

Or is there a question Jesus might ask of you.

As I was reflecting on Holy Week and sharing in that walk from the Garden of Gethsemane to the courtyard, from the cross to resurrection, one element in the story came to my mind … that I felt was helpful and could be helpful to  us all.

I want us to walk that walk with Peter.

Not once, not twice, but three times in the Garden Jesus asked Peter and James and John to pray.

Not once, not twice, but three times they could not stay awake and watch and pray.

It seems so simple.

In so many instances in our lives, maybe facing difficult times, difficult choices, difficult circumstances, maybe facing unexpected illness, things that weigh us down or bring us low, we know there is a call to pray.

And yet we find we cannot.

The prayer won’t come.

Like Peter we fail.

In the  moment in the garden the failure isn’t resolved.

It’s left there.  Hanging.

But in spite of his failure Peter moves on.

We move to the Courtyard.

Not once, not twice, but three times,

Peter is recognised.

You also were with Jesus the Galilean.

This man was with Jesus of Nazareth

Certainly, you are one of them for your accent betrays you.

Not once, not twice, but three times

Peter is adamant

I do not know what you are talking about

I do not [expletive deleted] know the man

I do not [multiple expletives deleted] know the man.

Not once, not twice, but three times

A denial

And at that moment the cock growed.

Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said, “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”  And he went out and wept bitterly.

Are there moments when we are not willing to own up to being followers of Jesus.

It’s easier to keep quiet.

We don’t want to get involved.

We don’t want to take a stand.

We don’t want to know him, Jesus our Lord.

We let God down, we let Jesus down, we let ourselves down …

And deep down we can feel the bitterness of the tears.

But in spite of his failures Peter moves on.

He’s there when news comes of the empty tomb.

He’s beaten in the chase by the younger John, but he sees for himself the tomb is empty.

And in that upper room, he sees for himself.

And knows, Jesus is risen, he is risen indeed.

And it is on his home stomping ground, around the fishing boats of his beloved Galilee he meets Jesus one more time.

Not once, not twice, but three times

Jesus asks a question.

Simon, Son of John, do you love me more than these?

Simon, Son of John, do you love me?

Simon, Son of John, do you love me?

Not once, not twice, but three times, Peter answers

Yes, Lord, you know that I love you

Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.

Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.

That’s what Jesus asks of us.

Not perfection.

Not an ability to pray no matter the circumstances

Not a commitment that is flawless

That’s what Jesus asks of us

Do you love me?

It is as we reply not once, not twice but three times, and simply affirm our love for Jesus that somehow the failings in prayer, the failings in commitment are knocked on the head – and a way of following Jesus opens up for us.

But what thing more remains.

Not once, not twice, but three times

Jesus had something for Peter to do.

Feed my lambs

Tend my sheep

Feed my sheep

That’s it … that’s the task – to bring that kind of caring love to others – for in doing that we make Christ’s love come alive.

|It takes me back to those questions … and that thought for the day.

Asking the right question can produce a life-changing moment.

For example, instead of asking a demoralising question such as ‘why does this always happen to me?’ one can ask an empowering question such as ‘how can I use this experience to contribute to the lives of others’

Insightful questions motivate us more than resolutions

If you understand how to ask the right question you are more than half way to the answer.

Maybe that’s the most insightful question of all, how can I use this experience to contribute to the lives of others and feed those sheep?