You need to think of a better question

Daniel 3

One of the wisest things I’ve ever heard was from a teacher of mine who was asked a question in class. The actual question doesn’t matter—I don’t remember it was at least—but he answered the question by saying, “Sir, you are not asking the right question. You need to think of a better question.”

I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve wanted to say that to a person. I mean, on the one hand you want people to be vulnerable and ask anything so those of us who teach like to say, “There are no stupid questions,” but that’s really an invitation to those who are shy or afraid to ask what they want to ask. The truth is that there are lots of stupid questions. Questions that are designed to show the correct-ness of the person asking it are bad questions; questions that are personal attacks are bad questions; questions asked to mock and belittle are bad questions. There are many cases where the best answer is: Think some more and come back with a better question.

            I thought of this today because the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is really the story of Nebuchadnezzar asking bad questions. He starts out by making a golden statue to worship; it’s a statue of him, by the way, in case you were wondering. The statue is the first example of Nebuchadnezzar asking the wrong question, because the kind of person who makes a giant golden statue of himself has to be asking a question like, “How do I demonstrate that I am powerful?”

If Nebuchadnezzar asked a different question—a better question—something along the lines of, “From where does my power come?” he would have likely a gone a different path. Most likely he instead tempted by the question, “How do I get more power?” which is the most tempting of all questions, but it also not the best question when it comes to living a good life, especially a life of faith.

            Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego show why. Being good Jews and knowing the idolatry is a big no-no in God’s eyes, they refuse to bow to the giant statue. Instead of asking, “How can we get power?” they are asking, “From where does true power come?” and they realize true power cannot come from Nebuchadnezzar. He’s just a man—a king, sure—but just a man. True power empowers not just the person in power but all people; it doesn’t seek power for its own ends; true power comes from God, because God is not in it for himself, like Nebuchadnezzar—and many politicians. They can’t worship this golden statue because it isn’t true. But that’s not the interesting thing; the interesting thing is that all the people in the land know this, right? Everybody knows that leaders who make statues and require loyalty oaths and whatnot do so not because they have a lot of power but because they feel vulnerable; the question is whether we pretend and give it to them, or stand up for what is actually true.

            This is no easy question. Because if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are asking the right question it means that we are called to ask likewise; it might mean, as Jesus suggests, that asking the right question leads us to taking up our crosses and following. It’s much easier to ask the wrong question—to ask, “How can I save myself?” The only way you can make that choice to defy the king, who will in all likelihood kill you, is to ask the much harder question: “What really matters?” What really matters? If you ask that question then be prepared to have much demanded of you. This is why most of us avoid that question at all costs, because if we ask the question we have to be prepared for an answer that demands self-sacrifice. That’s absolutely terrifying. It is much easier to not ask the question at all.

            But the story goes on: Nebuchadnezzar is enraged by their lack of fealty and it says in the reading that his face becomes distorted with rage when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answer that they will never worship him, even under threat of being thrown into the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar never stops to ask of their motivation; he only considers their reaction from the perspective of power. He sees there’s as a political move—something that can be quashed by a furnace. How many political leaders throughout history have made the same move—taking their opponents faith and trying to kill it by killing them? It never works, because Nebuchadnezzar, in a long line of poor leaders, is asking the wrong question.

            You know the rest of the story. They get thrown into the fire; they live; Nebuchadnezzar repents and proclaims that their God is the true God, but honestly, I don’t think Nebuchadnezzar actually changes much. He keeps asking the question about power until he gets a different answer. The reason I believe this is because let’s say God doesn’t save Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—let’s say they get burned up in the fire like countless martyrs including eleven of the disciples, St. Paul, and countless numbers of the prophets. Most people who follow got don’t get saved; they get killed—let’s pretend Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are among them. Still, Nebuchadnezzar would be asking the wrong question, and still it would do nothing to change the answer that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are seeking. Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t change tack; he just finds something more powerful than him. He doesn’t make the leap of faith; he just makes a political move.

            On the other hand, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have faith no matter the result. In verse 17 it says, “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.” You can’t say this unless you are asking the right question, because their faith is not dependent on God saving them; it’s dependent on what it true, and truth is not a golden statue—even if it’s convenient to believe it is.

            I think this business of asking the right question is hugely important, because I see a lot of people who seem to be asking the wrong questions of their lives, and it’s very difficult to have a conversation with a person when the questions that are their foundation are faulty. If you live your life following the question, “How can I win the most?” then it’s going to be very hard to reconcile your life with a life of faith that is asking, “What really matters?” If you’re asking “How do I get more power?” it’s going to run aground against Jesus who begs us to ask the question, “How do I give my power away?”

            I really see this when it comes to politics, which isn’t at all surprising because this story of Nebuchadnezzar and these three men is about politics. In politics many people already have their answers, because they already know what the questions are, but, like Nebuchadnezzar, we have to be careful that we aren’t asking bad questions. We have to check that there aren’t better questions we could be asking. And, finally, we have to decide to follow the questions where God is actually leading us. It might lead into a furnace; it might even lead through it, but what matters, in the end, is if the questions we are following are worthy.

            Good questions lead us to God. Good questions lead us to that mystery box of Advent, waiting, wondering, on a mystery. Good question don’t give us the answers we want but the answers we need. Good questions give us Jesus.