Is preparing to preach faithfully a first order priority for you? In asking this I am not going to be satisfied with your fancy theological convictions. I want to know the truth! Does your personal discipline and the reality of your pastor’s week evidence that kind of priority? Are you a man of God or a man of ‘Bog’ – ‘bogged down’ in the good and distracted from the best? Or are things so bad that you are plain careless or lazy or distracted or disheartened? Searching questions I know – but important ones I ask myself, and you!
This brings me to the subject of my post for the week: the necessary strategy of interrogating not just ourselves (always the first place to start) but also our congregation. The power of rhetorical questions! The power of searching questions posed by a preacher who has indeed prepared well.
I think the most classic rhetorical technique of all, is the so-called ‘rhetorical question’ or ἐπερώτησις ('eperōtēsis'). The Greeks divided these into two main classes: those left unanswered by the speaker, and those for which he goes on to provide an answer.
The Greeks considered those unanswered by the speaker as the more powerful. Unanswered questions can profoundly move people. You can effect πάθος (see my earlier blog entry on the use of emotion or 'pathos' to persuade), especially using a series of questions as something like a cross examination, where the audience has nothing they can say. It is a way of insisting or threatening the audience. It can also be used to invoke pity or admiration.
The less powerful rhetorical question is the one which is answered by the speaker, because the audience is not left to do the work. They can relax and let the preacher do it for them – way too easy in my opinion. If used, the Greek rhetoricians advise that they should come across as unrehearsed and so, fit the moment. Perhaps the speaker can pretend to cross examine herself. An imaginery (or even real) opponent can be asked what he or she can say for themselves or what they say against the speaker, and then the answer can be conveniently given for them.
One of my favourite examples of the unanswered rhetorical question comes from Baxter’s Reformed Pastor, as he discusses the need to give pastoral care for congregations.
‘Oh then, let us hear these arguments of Christ, whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: "Did I die for them, and wilt not thou look after them? Were they worth my blood and are they not worth thy labour? Did I come down from heaven to earth, to seek and to save that which was lost; and wilt thou not go to the next door or street or village to seek them? How small is thy labour and condescension as to Mine? I debased Myself to this, but it is thy honour to be so employed. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation; and was I willing to make thee a co-worker with Me, and wilt thou refuse that little that lieth upon thy hands?" [Richard Baxter,
The Reformed Pastor]
On that rather challenging note, let me return to my opening theme. Do you prepare your sermons late on Saturday night, allowing little time for preparation, when God himself spent thousands of years preparing for the coming of that very Word that you are proclaiming? Do you prepare with little concern for the congregation to whom you are speaking, when God’s concern for them led him to send his son into the world and to a cross? Do you take things easy yourself and by doing so lay a heavy burden on the very people whose burdens God has called you to share? Will you challenge yourself and your people, by posing the questions that the word raises, as it searches peoples' hearts, 'sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrat[ing] even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; judg[ing] the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.' Remember that 'Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.' [Hebrews 4] That includes not just the congregation on Sunday, but the preacher in his study during the week!
I trust you can concede that these are all 'good questions' to ask!