The Word of God is living and effective (Hebrews 4:12)! That means God is speaking to you through Scripture right now. The questions Jesus asked back then are relevant to you today. He’s not just asking Peter or Paul or the Pharisees these questions; in some way, He is also asking you. 

When beginning this project, I thought it would make a nice list of twenty-some reflective questions for us to explore. For some reason, I forgot just how many rhetorical, direct, and interesting questions Jesus asked…

There are much more than twenty-some! They are a great opportunity to take Jesus’ questions to prayer. The questions remind us that He wants a relationship with us, to converse with us through prayer every day.

The Questions Jesus Asked In The Gospel Of Luke

For your reflection, here are the questions Jesus asks us in (Luke, using the New American Bible Revised Edition:

“Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)

Jesus at age twelve says this to His parents when they find Him in the temple after He was lost for three days.

Where are you looking for God—all the wrong places or just obvious places like church or everywhere the Holy Spirit leads you?

“For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?” (Luke 6:32-33)

Jesus preaches about loving enemies, which is an incredibly difficult, but Christian thing to do.

What about your conduct makes you different than non-believers?

“If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you?” (Luke 6:34)

This is another question Jesus poses while preaching about loving enemies. 

How and what do you give without expecting reciprocation?

“Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” (Luke 6:39)

Jesus preaches against judging others, explaining that we all need to learn from those who are wiser than ourselves.

Are those who admire bringing you to the light of truth or into darkness?

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?” (Luke 6:46)

Jesus explains that someone with only words and no works builds their house on sand and will not last. 

When are your actions living out your faith and when is your faith just empty words?

“…Which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:42)

Jesus tells us a parable about those whose debts are forgiven and asks who was loved more—one had more debt than the other. 

Do you deeply understand the debt you owe Christ and seek Him out with that much love?

“…Do you see this woman?” (Luke 7:44)

Jesus asks Simon if he is really “seeing” the woman who is wiping Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair. 

Do you really see those around you—their struggles, joys, hopes, and fears? Are you seeing with Christ’s eyes?

“Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25)

The boat carrying Jesus and the apostles took on water while sailing and a storm hit. Jesus calmed the storm and asked this question. 

What storms would or have made you ask God if He’s even paying attention to you?

“Will you be exalted to heaven?” (Luke 10:15)

Jesus reproached the unrepentant. 

You can hide nothing from God; what in your life are you struggling to confess?

“What is written in the law? How do you read it?” (Luke 10:26)

A scholar of the law tests Jesus about inheriting eternal life. 

How do you know you’re saved? Do you know the Way, the Law of God?

“Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” (Luke 10:36)

After the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asks this question. 

Do you reach out to those around you or expect someone else to help them? 

“Did not the Maker of the outside also make the inside?” (Luke 11:40)

Jesus speaks to Pharisees who were surprised when He did not do the prescribed washing of hands before a meal. 

What outer acts do you hide behind to ignore your inside struggles or spiritual ills?

“Friend, who appointed Me as your judge and arbitrator?” (Luke 12:14)

Wanting justice, a man asks Jesus to make his brother share inheritance, but Jesus responds with concern against greed. 

When have you wrongly attempted to “use” Christ or Scripture to justify your opinion?

“ ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’” (Luke 12:17)

Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool. Wealth is not the problem, but greed is. 

What areas are you greedy, generous, foolish, or gracious?

“ ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’” (Luke 12:20)

Jesus asks this during his parable of the rich fool, who makes bigger barns to store his food.

Keeping eternal life in mind, what can you change about your own life, especially when it comes to sharing your material things and practicing mercy?

“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute [the] food allowance at the proper time?” (Luke 12:42)

Jesus asks us to be faithful and vigilant servants. 

Have you practiced prudence enough in little matters so that you are prepared in the most important matters?

“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth?” (Luke 12:51)

Jesus, though the Prince of Peace, describes Himself as the cause of division. 

Where has your faith caused division or unity in your life?

“…why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Luke 12:56)

Jesus talks about the signs of the times. 

In what ways can you pay more attention to your inner life and those souls around you rather than just the worldly happenings?

“Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?” (Luke 12:57)

Jesus talks about settling with an opponent on the way to court rather than once you get there. 

What can you “settle” now in your life journey?

“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?” (Luke 13:2)

Jesus describes others’ sufferings. We might assume victims deserve their sufferings, as if it is God’s punishment for their sins.

When has suffering caused you to grow into a better person? When have you said someone deserved what they got, without considering God’s mercy?

“Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?” (Luke 13:4)

When someone suffers from an accident, disease, or disaster, we tend to blame biology or the victim’s choices. In Biblical times, they blamed a person’s sufferings on that person’s sins. Jesus asks us this question to point out that those victims are not more or less guilty than anyone else. 

When do you unjustly decide that someone deserved what they got? Does it make you feel better? 

“Why should it exhaust the soil?” (Luke 13:7)

Jesus talks about a fig tree getting another chance because without it growing it just exhausts the soil. 

Are you more like a healthy fig tree, barren fig tree, or a fig tree getting another chance?

“Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” (Luke 13:15-16)

Jesus reasons why it was good for Him to heal on the Sabbath.

When have you abused logic to pettily incriminate or justify yourself or another, rather than refer to Truth?

“Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” (Luke 14:3)

Jesus asks what people think about His miraculous healing on the Sabbath day. 

Are you telling Jesus what to do or bringing others closer to Him?

“Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 14:5)

When are you scrupulous (overly attentive to details, so much that it is a fault) about how the Sacraments are celebrated or who receives them, or other matters of faith?

“To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?” (Luke 13:20)

Jesus compares the kingdom of God to yeast. 

How are you lifting yourself and others to the Lord?

“Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? …Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?” (Luke 14:28, 31)

Jesus knew the cost and He knew the ending—death and resurrection. You were worth it. 

Keeping the ultimate goal in mind, when are you “miscalculating” the benefits or losses of your thoughts, words, actions, attentions, or relationships? 

“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it?” (Luke 15:8)

Jesus explains the rejoicing that happens when the lost are found. 

Are you willing to treat every person around you as just as important as the others?

“If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?” (Luke 16:11-12)

You are a child of God, meant for eternal life with Him in His kingdom.

When are you neglecting your duties to your blessed vocation? Can He trust you with the care of the souls in your charge—yours and those of others?

“Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at the table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished?’ Is he grateful to that servant because he did what he commanded?” (Luke 17:7-9)

Jesus explains an attitude of serving, which is doing more than what is asked. 

Are you a joyful servant? Do you go above and beyond?

“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” (Luke 17:17-18)

Jesus asks about the lepers He healed. Only one returned to express gratitude. 

Do you only ask God for things? Do you thank Him prayerfully and actively?

“Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to Him day and night? Will He be slow to answer them?” (Luke 18:7)

God knows what you don’t know and looks out for your best. 

Do you ever think God isn’t listening to you?

“But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8

It is easy to answer “yes” to this question but think about what Jesus asks here. 

If Jesus looked into your life right now, would He find faith? What kind of faith (lukewarm, cool, on fire…) would He find?

“For who is greater: the one seated at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at the table?” (Luke 22:27)

Jesus is leading as a servant while the disciples are at the tables. 

When do you think you’re greater than others? When do you need to serve more to be a better leader?

“When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?” (Luke 22:35)

Jesus asked His disciples if they needed anything when they left with nothing. (They lacked nothing.)

What worldly things hold you back from spreading the Good News?

“Why are you sleeping?” (Luke 22:46)

Jesus asks this to his sleeping disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane—the Agony of the Garden.

What about you? Can you not visit Jesus in adoration?

“Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48)

Jesus asks Judas Iscariot while He is betrayed in the night. 

When do you betray God with your sins?

“At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:30-31)

Jesus comforts the women He meets on the way to the cross. 

How can you better use the liturgical season of “ordinary time” or peaceful times to strengthen your soul for the stormy times of spiritual battle?

“What are you discussing as you walk along? …What sort of things?” (Luke 24:16, 19)

Jesus speaks to those on the road to Emmaus about the events He already knows happened and why those events fulfilled the Old Testament.

Christ enjoys conversation with you and opening up Truth to you through the Word of God, so how can you incorporate Scripture more directly into your daily life?

“Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26)

Jesus speaks to those on the Road to Emmaus before explaining the Scriptures to His companions.

What sufferings in your life is Christ walking with you through, or already has, to glorify God?

“Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38)

Resurrected Jesus appears to His disciples, who think He is a ghost and asks them this.

Why are you troubled, and are you close enough to Christ to not question His miracles?

“Have you anything here to eat?” (Luke 24:41)

Resurrected Jesus Christ appears to the disciples, and proves He is not a ghost by eating real food with them. 

Why does Jesus need to prove Himself to you for you to believe with your whole heart?

_{Image: Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash}