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The Questions of Jesus. 

This selection of questions that Jesus asked in the four gospels of the New Testament is intended for open-ended, contemplative, prayerful personal meditation and group conversation.  Here, the questions are presented out of their contexts in the gospel narratives.  Those contexts are well-worthy of study and consideration.  But here, you can fit Jesus' questions into your own contexts, imagining how they address or challenge your own life-experience.  The questions are presented here as "koans" - spiritual "monkey-wrenches" tossed into our minds to break us loose from habits that get in the way of Divine Love. There are no right answers.  It may be enough to mindfully contemplate the questions rather than trying to answer them!  How can these questions bring us closer to the true Divine Nature within, and draw us closer in the loving community of ZOE?  After each question, prompts for reflection are offered.

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1.  And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? (Matt 6:27-28) (What are your worries?  When and how do they arise?  How do they manifest physically?) 

2. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? (Matt 7:2) (What are the logs in your own eyes?  What prejudices and assumptions and judgments get in the way of your ability to see things as they are, on their own terms?  How clearly can you see these "logs"?)

3.  Why are you afraid, you of little faith? (Matt 8:26)  (What are you afraid of?  What is the root of your fear?  When/how do these fears arise?  How do these fears affect your life and the lives of others?  How do your fears manifest in your body?)

4.  Do you believe that I am able to do this? (Matt 9:28)  (What do you need to do?  Do you believe you can do it?  Examine your beliefs about what you can and cannot accomplish.)

5.  What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? (Matt 11:8) (When you go out into nature, what are you seeking, if anything?  What do you find in the wilderness?)

6.  Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? (Matt 12:48) (Who matters to you?  For whom would you lay down your life, and vice-versa?  What kind of relationship do you have with the people most important to you?  Does change need to come to these relationships?)

7.  How many loaves have you? (Matt 15:34) (What do you have to work with - what are your resources to deal with the challenges before you?  Are they sufficient? Can you "make do"?)

8.  But who do you say that I am? (Matt 16:15) - What is your name? (Luke 8:30) (Who are you, in your essence?  If you lovingly observe yourself in prayerful, mindful contemplation, who/what is it that is doing the observing?)

9. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? (Matt 20:22)  (Are you ready/willing to suffer, or serve others who are suffering?  How can you make yourself ready to do so?)

10.  What do you want me to do for you? (Matt 20:32)  (What kind of help do you need?  Are you willing to ask for it?)

11.  So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? (Matt 26:40) - Simon, are you asleep? (Mark 14:37) - Why are you sleeping? (Luke 22:46) (In what ways are you "asleep", spiritually/emotionally/mentally?  What would help you come "awake"?)

12.  My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46)  (Is there any part of you in despair?  What is the root of that despair?)

13.  Who touched my clothes? (Mark 5:30) (Do you feel drained of energy, spiritually or physically?  What drained you?  How can you be revived with energy?)

14.  Can you see anything? (Mark 8:23)  (In what ways are you blind - unable to "see" important aspects of life within and around you?)

15.  For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? (Luke 22:27)  (In what ways are you a servant, and in what ways are you a master?  What is it like to be in each of those roles?  Are there situations in which those roles should be reversed for you?)

16. What are you discussing as you walk along? (Luke 24:17)  (What chatter is going on in your mind right now?  What are you thinking right now?  What kind of inner dialogue is going on in you right now?)

17.  What are you looking for? (John 1:38)  (What do you want?  Is anything missing in your life?  What do you want to do about it?  What are you willing to do about it?)

18.  Do you want to be made well? (John 5:6)  (In what ways are you not well?  What is your level of desire to become well?  What difference might it make if your desire was stronger?)

19.  Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me? (John 18:34)  (In what ways do you just "go with the flow" of other people's expectations for you?  How much should you resist that flow?  What are ways in which you need to be more authentic about your own choices and views?)

20.  Do you love me? (John 21:16)  (Is there love in your life?  Whom do you love?  Do you love yourself? Do you experience divine love, and what is it like?)

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