“I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” (Luke 9:40 NLT)
The disciples had plenty of great experiences to boast about. They were in the inner circle. They had been hanging out with one of Israel’s most popular rabbis. But on this day, they were powerless. They had religious solutions to offer, but this man wanted just one simple thing… “Can you just heal my boy?”
Sometimes we have a ton of great answers to offer, but no one is asking the right questions. Broken people are the worst. They never quite understand the importance of our religious ceremonies, liturgies, and traditions. They don’t seem to care about our denominational structures, our political schemes, and our battles over buildings and secondary doctrines.
Instead, they have the nerve to ask questions about their enormous, real life struggles. From their point of pain, they seem to ignore our list of programs and ask questions like… Can you heal my boy? Can you help my marriage? Can you help me stop looking at pornography? Can you help me find forgiveness for my abuser?
Maybe we should start answering different questions.
