The Question about John

The Question about John
Matthew 21.23-32

When the police finally caught up with the man, they took him off to a police station and sat him down. They let him get his breath back, and then the questions began. ‘What were you doing in that street at that time of night? What right did you have to be in that house? Where had you come from? Who did you see? Why were you so worried when we came to find you?’

But of course the question they really wanted to ask was: ‘Did you commit the murder?’

They couldn’t ask it yet, because they didn’t want to say the words too soon. If the suspect wasn’t the murderer, but knew something about it, this might give the game away. If he was the murderer, a direct question would certainly make him say ‘No’, and then everything else would be useless. They needed to come with a barrage of other questions to get him talking, to get him either telling the truth or twisting around in so many lies that they’d catch him out sooner or later. Then the truth would come out...

Taken from Matthew for Everyone – by Tom Wright