There are certain questions people ask when you immediately know what they're really asking. If your spouse looks at you and says, "Do you know what today is?" you know that isn't really a question about the calendar. It's a question about whether you've remembered something important. Suddenly you're mentally flipping through anniversaries, birthdays, and every promise you've made over the last month, hoping you've remembered the right one. Sometimes the question itself isn't the point. The question is designed to lead you somewhere.

Jesus was a master at asking those kinds of questions. That's why we've been spending this summer looking at Questions Jesus Asked (And We Must Answer). Jesus often taught by asking questions because questions have a way of reaching places that lectures never can. A question forces us to examine our own hearts. It reveals what we believe, what we fear, and where our faith really is.

Today's question seems almost unnecessary at first. Jesus looks at His disciples and asks, "How many loaves do you have?" It almost sounds as though He's simply taking inventory, but that's not what He's doing at all. Jesus isn't asking because He needs information. He's asking because He wants to teach His disciples something they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.