"Why not" is the start of a conversation (and like the conversation with Abraham about whether to destroy Sodom, or Moses about whether to destroy the chosen people and start over, the roles have been reversed, we are the ones advocating for mercy, leaving God as the one to advocate for justice; but this time, because we ought to know how to argue for mercy by now, we took the initiative.)
Ordinarily I just ask what I should do, which you can see is more of a neutral question; if, that is, I remember to ask at all. This is not radical like the question St Paul poses (which at bottom is the same as the radical commands in Matthew 5: "you have heard it said... but I say to you..."). But just the same as with the neutral question, God's answer is not a foregone conclusion (which is the same as saying: it's not a rhetorical question, it's a real question) and we have to listen for it. As you point out, the answer might be to take drastic action or to take someone to court, and also in an unfolding situation we have to stay in the conversation whatever the initial answer was; sometimes things turn on a dime, like the apparent reversal (or, the very precise timing) in the wedding feast at Cana where the answer changes from basically "it is not time for that *yet*" to "it is time".
(in other news, I can't figure out which button in the Substack app is the right one to reply in a thread and I had better stick to using the web.)
"Why not" is the start of a conversation (and like the conversation with Abraham about whether to destroy Sodom, or Moses about whether to destroy the chosen people and start over, the roles have been reversed, we are the ones advocating for mercy, leaving God as the one to advocate for justice; but this time, because we ought to know how to argue for mercy by now, we took the initiative.)
Ordinarily I just ask what I should do, which you can see is more of a neutral question; if, that is, I remember to ask at all. This is not radical like the question St Paul poses (which at bottom is the same as the radical commands in Matthew 5: "you have heard it said... but I say to you..."). But just the same as with the neutral question, God's answer is not a foregone conclusion (which is the same as saying: it's not a rhetorical question, it's a real question) and we have to listen for it. As you point out, the answer might be to take drastic action or to take someone to court, and also in an unfolding situation we have to stay in the conversation whatever the initial answer was; sometimes things turn on a dime, like the apparent reversal (or, the very precise timing) in the wedding feast at Cana where the answer changes from basically "it is not time for that *yet*" to "it is time".
(in other news, I can't figure out which button in the Substack app is the right one to reply in a thread and I had better stick to using the web.)