#childlike

“When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.””—Mark‬ ‭10‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“You ask too many questions.”

When someone tells us not to question them. When we hear something like that. Alarm bells go off. Or they should.

Because that means your questions are hitting something they don’t want you to know. Something they don’t want to talk about. They’re hiding something from you.

Always ask questions. But make sure that they’re the right kind of questions.

Wait, what?

There are two kinds of questions. Questions that aren’t really questions. And actual questions.

We see this all the time in the Gospels. There are the Pharisees (“the wise and the learned” Jesus calls them in today’s Gospel) who ask Jesus loaded questions. Things like “is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

They’re not really asking about the morality of paying taxes to a foreign occupier. They’re just trying to set Jesus up. To either lose His support among the Jews. Or to have Rome put a price on His head.

It may have the form of a question, but it’s not really a question. 

For a real question, look to Mary. And her question to the angel who just told her that she would conceive and give birth to the Messiah. She asks, “how will this be, since I am a virgin?”

Mary is saying, “I understand what it takes to get pregnant. I haven’t done that. Explain how this is going to work.”

That is a real question.

The kind of question asked by people who genuinely want to know, who are trying to understand. This is the right kind of question.

It’s the kind of question that children ask. When they’re learning and trying to understand the world and everything in it.

That is the “childlike” that Jesus is referring to in today’s Gospel. Questions like those of a child.

Real questions, asked by people seeking real answers. That is who God will reveal things to.

This is why we should never be afraid of real questions. Whether they are someone else’s questions. Or our own questions.

God isn’t.

Truth be told, those are the questions that God is waiting for.