Questions Matter

One of my friends is particular about how people use “may I” and “can I.” If someone were to ask, “Can I visit you?” a common expression in southern America, she would say, “Can you?” She wants them to say, “May I.” How we frame questions matter. Similarly, how we frame sentences matter. Martha and Mary essentially said the same, but they differed in how they said it (in Greek):

Martha: “If you’d have been here, my brother would not have died.”

Mary: “If you’d have been here, my would not have died brother.”

Mary put death between her and her brother, separating them.

When Gabriel told Zechariah about an impossibility – two aging and infertile people having a baby – he said,

“How do I know (katha thi yinosko) this because I am an old man, and my wife is advancing in age?” (Luke 1:18)

When Gabriel told Mariam about an impossibility – a young girl who had never had sex was to have a baby – she said,

“How will this be (pos esthi thutho) since I have not known a man [a euphemism for having sex with her fiancé]?”

The first question – katha thi yinosko – was an intellectual question asking for proof. Zechariah wanted proof that Gabriel’s promise was true. It was a question triggered by logic and a lack of faith. That was why Gabriel made him unable to speak – the proof that what he said was true. The second question – pos esthi thutho – was a practical question asking how an impossible task will be fulfilled. How would Mariam, who had never had sex with any man, become pregnant and have a son? She knew basic biology – she had to have sex to have a baby. It wasn’t a question triggered by a lack of faith; it was a curious question – would she have to marry someone soon, or would God do something miraculous?

Gabriel patiently answered her because it wasn’t a question of doubt but curiosity.

“Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. The Holy-one born from you will be called Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)

Muslims find the Christian doctrine of Jesus being God’s Son difficult to comprehend and offensive because it implies that God had sex with Mariam, and that’s how Jesus was born. Sadly, our doctrines contribute: “conceived of the Holy Spirit.” What Gabriel said to Mariam/Mary was a “re-creation” terminology. While God created the present world,

“The earth was unseeable and without form because darkness was over its depth. Then, the Spirit of God came upon the water, and God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Gen 1:2–3)

Just as the Spirit of God and God himself turned a dark and unformed world into a lighted and orderly one, a young virgin who never had sex would have a baby miraculously. Holy Spirit didn’t impregnate her any more than he impregnated the earth. These were Hebraic expressions to say God and Spirit, who brought orderliness and life to the original creation, were at work one more time, with a new re-creation, and the result was a person, Jesus, who will be called God’s son, not because of biological relationship but because of his representation – just as Adam and Eve were “image of God” on earth and were to rule the world (Gen 1:26-27), Jesus would be God’s Son, representative of God on earth and ruling, and his kingdom will have no end (1 Sam 7:14–15; Luke 1:33).

God welcomes questions of curiosity, not those that lack trust.