There Are Dumb Questions
9 November 2025
Luke 20:20-40
Rev Alfred W. O'Daire, Jr.
Lebanon United Methodist Church, Jarratt, Va.
Introduction
“This may be a dumb question.”
Or even, “This may be a stupid question, but…”
Been told over and over again.
There are NO stupid questions.
Even with this added, “Only stupid mistakes.”
But I’ve come to realize, there really are stupid questions in life.
As a clinical professor, been asked some really dumb questions.
Posed by some really smart people.
Sometimes it left me scratching my head.
Made me wonder, “Why?”
What prompted that question?
Are they really looking for an answer?
Maybe looking for attention.
Possibly to show they are superior in some way.
Explain some long physiological process.
Spend 20 minutes or more.
Minute details.
Then there’s always that one person.
“So what you’re saying is….”
Go on to explain what they think they heard.
Have you heard ANYTHING I just said????
Sometimes off the wall questions may even be a trap.
An entirely different direction to throw off someone.
Want to show up the teacher.
Or that they are superior to the teacher.
Message
In our Gospel lesson today, we have one of these episodes.
Jesus was questioned throughout His ministry.
Sometimes legitimate questions.
People really wanted to understand better.
Disciples were trying so hard to learn.
Frequently asked about the meaning of a parable.
If meaning wasn’t clear, they didn’t want to miss to point.
Jesus would get exasperated by the disciples sometimes.
Asked questions He thought had obvious answers.
Had questions about the Kingdom of God.
The Son of Man.
Even who He was at one point.
But that’s not what today’s message is about.
Today is one of those special questions.
We have read several Gospel stories where Jesus was being questioned.
He gets questioned by the Roman leadership.
By the temple priests.
By the Pharisees.
And even His own followers.
Today, our reading was about the Sadducees coming to Jesus.
They are part of the Sanhedrin.
Kind of the Supreme Court of the Hebrew people.
They were kind of like the Senate.
If the Pharisees were the House of Rep.
One of the few times this group appears.
They doubt.
They doubt a lot.
They believe in nothing more than the Torah.
The Law of Moses.
The first 5 books of our OT.
So, it precludes them from believing in the prophets.
Don’t appear in the first 5 books.
They deny the existence of angels.
They emphasized man’s free will.
Not the will of God.
Most importantly, they do not believe in resurrection.
To them, once you’re dead, you’re dead.
That’s all there is.
That is the basis for today’s trick question.
Jesus’ message and mission was to rise from the dead.
To die and be resurrected.
The Sadducees couldn’t allow this message.
The Jewish people in the days of Jesus ruled by several groups.
We’ve met the Pharisees.
Basically, the ancestors of today’s Jewish people.
There are the priests in the temple, the Levites.
We have scribes.
The lawyers of the day.
Sadducees have to come up with the ultimate challenge question.
One they are certain will undo Jesus and His cause.
In particular the coming resurrection.
This isn’t the first time Jesus is approached with dumb questions.
Jesus gets in this situation several times.
He is asked several questions that weren’t sincere.
They were questions like I was just talking about.
He is always ready.
He answers indirectly to make people think.
Rarely gives a straightforward answer.
Jesus handles these questions with great wisdom.
He answers boldly.
Never worried about who gets offended.
Jesus had to analyze the questions put to Him.
That way, He could respond with the best answer.
Let’s look at a few special (or stupid) questions put to Jesus.
Then how He handled them.
Questions not really looking for an answer.
Questions meant to trap or embarrass.
First question
In Matt 21, Jesus is in the temple teaching.
Approached by the chief priests and elders.
“By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You that authority?”
I love Jesus’ answer here.
“I’m going to ask you a question. You answer mine and I’ll answer yours.
Baptism of John. Where was it from? Heaven or from men?”
Jesus is going to really make them think about this one.
Put their heads together.
If we say, “of heaven”, He’ll say so why don’t you believe him?
But if we say of men, John’s crowd of followers would attack them.
And he had a huge crowd of followers.
Only one possible answer.
“We don’t know the answer to that.”
“Fine. Now I don’t have to answer your question about my Authority.”
This question wasn’t really a question
It was an objection.
Who ordained you? Who made YOU a rabbi?
An objection to what He was doing in the temple.
The scene of this is important.
Jesus had come into the temple.
Attacked the money changers, the merchants on Palm Sunday.
We all know that story.
The Pharisees sanctioned those money changers.
The merchants.
Was truly a money making endeavor.
And they got a cut of the profits.
They sold the merchant slots for business.
They needed to get rid of Jesus because He was in their wallets now.
Second question
Next let’s look at the Pharisees taking another shot at Jesus.
They go to Him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Ceasar?”
There were two schools of thought in those days.
Zealots and Pharisees said to not pay unless life was threatened.
More passive Jews, just pay it and be done.
This, in Luke 20, started out with flattery.
They sent spies ahead to watch Jesus.
Then they came, pretending to be righteous; butter Him up.
“Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly; and You do not show favoritism, but teach us the way of God in truth; Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Ceasar or not?”
If Jesus said don’t pay the taxes, they would accuse Him of advocating insurrection.
Roman government would have to arrest Him.
Problem solved.
But if He said pay the taxes, He was supporting the Romans,
Appear to turn His back on the Jewish people.
His followers would abandon Him, going back to the Pharisees.
In v 23, “but He perceived their craftiness.”
“Why do you test me? Show me a denarius.”
Whose picture is on it?
They answer the obvious; Ceasars.
Jesus responds to give back to Ceasar that which is his.
He answers with a non-answer.
But one that can’t be argued.
Then He adds but give to God what is God’s.
Third question
Jewish leaders bring a woman to Jesus accused of adultery.
Mitzvot says she should be stoned to death for her sin.
That goes against Jesus’ teachings of forgiveness.
So, they want to see if, being Jewish, He will follow the Mitzvot.
In a way only Jesis can, He turns it back on them.
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
We know there was none among them without sin.
THEY knew there was none among them without sin.
They went away, knowing none of them was without sin.
Jesus tells her He does not condemn her.
“Go, and sin no more.”
Today’s question
Now, I want to circle back.
I want to take a look at today’s scriptural special question.
Today, we have been introduced to the Sadducees.
This is one of the rare times they approach Jesus.
So, they decided to ask a question.
One that is designed to trap Jesus into their way of thinking.
They put their collective heads together.
Come up with what they thought was a profound question.
They want to do one of a couple of things here.
Force Jesus to admit they are right.
Or make Him look foolish.
Then He would lose followers back to them.
They will regain their followers.
They’ll get back the financial security lost with those followers.
Sadducees put a question to Jesus.
Want to test Jesus about the resurrection He is claiming.
A resurrection they have no belief in.
Use a law from the Mitzvot about marriage.
In the Jewish families of the day, children were special.
They were important to the faith.
There was a Leverite law about giving a man children.
Even after his death.
About the eldest of 7 brothers.
Dies childless.
Duty of next brother to marry widow and give her children.
Would actually become children of the older brother.
Each of the 7 in turn marries her and dies.
So, in heaven, whose wife is she if there is resurrection?
Jesus didn’t confound, or confuse, or even embarrass the Sadducees.
Unlike the other times;
He used this as a teaching moment.
Since they believed in only the Torah; they denied resurrection was there.
Jesus finds a way to use the Torah to prove resurrection.
Jesus uses Moses’ own words addressing God before the burning bush.
Even the Sadducee’s believed God was the God of the living, not of the dead.
“He (Moses) speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
So, they must still be living in the presence of God.
Those patriarchs are still alive to God.
What is Jesus’ lesson here?
The lesson is not that there is no marriage in heaven.
Life in the resurrection is different than earthly life.
We are all together present in God’s kingdom to love one another.
And more importantly, to love God and be loved by God.
Earthly marriage is just that. An earthly event.
It is to produce children in God’s own image.
To give us someone to love.
To give us someone to love us back.
This passage doesn’t say there is no relationship in heaven.
Only that there is no need for marriage.
We will still be reunited in the resurrection.
Just in a different relationship.
It will not be an earthly relationship, but a heavenly one.
Conclusion
This Gospel lesson is one that causes several emotions.
Can be intriguing.
To some, it’s reassuring.
Still others, it can be disturbing.
But Jesus, faced with a challenging question from Jewish leaders.
Decides to teach.
He doesn’t belittle them.
He doesn’t make them look foolish.
He honestly wants them to understand.
When He finishes, the scribes are amazed.
They get it.
“Teacher, You have spoken well.”
And they no longer dared ask Him any questions.
As Christian believers today, we need this example.
There are the times others try to trap Jesus.
Jesus uses His knowledge to turn the tables.
But here, He goes a different direction.
He teaches.
Like I said in the opening, think about what prompted the question.
Then, respond appropriately.
We can only hope to have part of the wisdom of Jesus.
We can get that wisdom from scripture.
We need to recognize the time to turn a foolish question around.
And the time to bring someone to Christ through scriptural enlightenment.
To use it as a teaching moment.
Jesus was asked many questions that weren’t sincere questions.
Ones with ulterior motives.
He handled them with boldness and wisdom.
We need to keep our skills sharp.
We do that through Bible study and reading scripture.
Analyze the nature of the question.
Choose wisely to give the right answer for the situation.
Amen.
