Matthew 22:34-46 (NRSV)
Read Matthew 22:34-46 on biblegateway.com
Verse 34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, Verse 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Verse 36"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Verse 37He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' Verse 38This is the greatest and first commandment. Verse 39And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Verse 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Verse 41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: Verse 42"What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." Verse 43He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, Verse 44'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'? Verse 45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" Verse 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Devotion
In season one of the TV series Ted Lasso, Ted speaks words of wisdom: “Be curious, not judgmental.” While Jesus never says these words in the Bible, he often uses this tactic in dealing with the Jewish leaders of his time. When a Pharisee or Sadducee asks a question to entrap Jesus, he often answers with another question. Instead of judging the questioner or answering in a way that may get himself unfairly convicted, he simply turns the question around and the antagonist must end up judging themselves when they get caught in their motive. Jesus doesn’t argue himself into a corner. In fact, he doesn’t argue at all. He simply turns the discussion back to curiosity rather than judgment or a conviction.
Love invites curiosity. Curiosity invites fair justice. Remaining calm and standing firm engages curiosity rather than judgment or hate. Following Jesus’s example, Christians can be curious, not judgmental.
Prayer
God of all knowledge, you call us to curiosity. Use our natural curiosity to help us listen and love better. Amen.
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