July 7, 2013
When we want to get to know Jesus better, we go to the
Gospels and read about what he said and did.
Then we have to think, because what Jesus said and what Jesus did do not
always seem identical. So then we have to
be willing to ask what truth is there for us in the disconnect, because as
Christians, we believe that Jesus came from God, that Jesus was God as well as
human, and that when we see Jesus speaking and acting in the Gospels, we see
who God is. So here’s one riddle to work
through, and it has to do with prayer.
First
misunderstanding: Prayer should always be private.
We see that Jesus would withdraw to deserted places and pray
(Luke 5:16). Furthermore, in Matthew 6:5-8, Jesus gives advice to his followers
about prayer.
“When you pray, don’t be like those who pray so that people
can see them praying. These hypocrites
stand on street corners or in synagogues and pray out loud so that others will
see them. The attention they get is
their only reward. But when you pray, go
into your private room, shut the door, and talk with your Father who is in
secret; and your Father who sees you praying privately will reward you.”
(We do not now recognize how explosive the teaching that God
is “your Father” was at this time. Watch
for how often Jesus connects prayer with this intimate familial relationship to
God Almighty.)
Now many folks have read this and felt like Jesus was
forbidding or devaluing public prayers.
But this cannot be so, because Jesus himself prayed aloud in front of
other people.
Jesus prays aloud: “I
thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things
from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to infants, yes, Father, for
such was your gracious will” (Matthew 11:23-24).
Looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves and
gave them to his disciples to pass out to the crowd (Matthew 14: 19). He took
the loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke them and gave them
to the disciples to give to the crowd (Matthew 15:36). He regularly gave thanks
for food. There are other times also when he prays publicly. Therefore, we need to learn how and when to
pray publicly.
Second
misunderstanding: Prayer should always
be spontaneous and original.
Back to Matthew 6: “Also, when you are praying, don’t heap
up empty phrases as those who worship false gods feel they have to; they think
that only if they repeat their requests over and over will they be heard. Don’t be like them. You have a Father who knows what you need
even before you ask.”
Many folks have read this and concluded that repeating a set or liturgical prayer is not the best way to pray, even though the most famous of these,
called The Lord’s Prayer, immediately follows. As Luke tells it, Jesus was
praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples
said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to
them, “When you pray say: Father, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves
forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial”
(Luke 11:1-13 ). Jesus himself used a “set prayer” in his cry from the cross:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” a shorthand reference to Psalm 22
(Matthew 27:46). Therefore, we need to
feel free to borrow the prayers of others when they express our need and our
trust in God.
Third misconception:
if we get it right, God will grant our requests.
In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus teaches further about prayer. Ask, he says, seek, and knock. The asker receives, the seeker finds, and the
door opens for the one who knocks. “Think of God as a parent like you. Would you give a stone to a child who asks
for bread? Would you give a snake to a
child who asks for fish? So if you, evil
as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Many folks have read this and felt like this guarantees that
they will get what they pray for, particularly if they quote this to God. But that cannot be exactly what this means,
because Jesus himself asked God for something that he didn’t get. He prayed in
the Garden of Gethsemane to be spared from death on the cross. God did not answer this prayer. Instead, God answered the second half of the
prayer, which was “not my will but your will be done.” “Abba, Father, for you
all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want but what
you want (Mark 14: 36).
Therefore, we cannot conclude that when we experience hard
things, it is because we do not have enough faith. Instead
the passage challenges us to believe that God is expressing God’s will through
our lives, and that in our suffering is nutrition for our whole selves.
Fourth
misunderstanding: if we get several other people to agree to pray for the same
result, God will give us what we ask for.
“If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it
will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are
gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:15-20). Intriguingly,
the immediate context for this is conflict or wrongs done between Jesus’s
followers. “If anyone sins against you,
go and point out the fault, etc.” This
suggests that we must remember in conflict with another that coming to talk to
that person directly brings Jesus into the conversation. Jesus is right there. The
point may be that when the two in conflict can agree to ask for the same thing
from our Father, God gladly answers their shared prayer.
Fifth misconception:
it is inappropriate to ask God for the same thing more than once.
Jesus teaches persistence in prayer through several
parables—the unjust judge and the persistent plaintiff and the neighbor who
needs bread from the person who has already gone to bed. These are funny stories that encourage us to
keep asking God to meet our needs—for justice, for daily bread, just as in the
prayer Jesus taught the disciples.
Sixth misconception:
having faith means getting what we want in prayer.
Jesus taught that prayer itself is an act of faith. It is not “a done deal,” not like adding
baking powder to the biscuits. Instead, having faith means we believe in
the giver of good gifts, our Father, and so we ask.
Additionally, Jesus taught that when we pray, we need to
forgive in order to be forgiven. And Jesus taught that our attitude in prayer
is humility and asking for mercy, not self-congratulation and bullying God.
So in one central incident, let’s see how prayer works for
Jesus.
John 11 Back Story:
Lazarus has died, and Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus
has fallen asleep and he must go wake him up.
He says: “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that
I was not there so that you can learn to trust. Now, let’s go to him.”
Jesus arrives back in Bethany. Lazarus has been dead and entombed four
days. Martha, his sister, meets Jesus,
and says “If you had been here, Lazarus would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask of
God, God will give to you.”
Jesus says to her, “Your brother will stand up again. “ Martha
responds, “I know he will rise in the resurrection at the end of time.”
Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection and I am
life. All who trust in me, even if they
die, shall live, and all who live and trust in me shall never die. Do you trust
me on this?” She replies, “Yes, Lord, I trust that you are the Messiah, the
Christ, the Son of God, who has come into our world, our universe.”
Lazarus’s other sister, Mary, also comes to meet Jesus, and
she greets him similarly to Martha, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died.”
Jesus sees her tears, and the tears of the whole crowd, and
he also weeps.
They walk to the tomb where Lazarus is lying dead, and Jesus
asks them to roll away the stone from the opening. Martha says, “Lord, he’s been there four days
and now stinks.”
Jesus says to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you would
trust, you would see the positive judgment, the glory of God?”
This is the part I want to emphasize: after they roll away the stone and while the
stink of death is in their nostrils, Jesus lifts up his eyes to heaven to talk
to our Father.
Jesus says, “Father, I thank you that you have heard
me. I know you always hear me. But because these people around me don’t know
that, I said it aloud so that they may trust that you have sent me.”
Then he shouts, “Lazarus, come out.” And from the opening in
the earth, Lazarus shuffles out, looking like a mummy. Jesus says, “Release him and let him go.”
Many onlookers trust Jesus as being the one sent by God on
that day, but some go to tell his enemies what Jesus had done.
What can we learn about prayer from this passage? First, we learn that when Jesus said to pray
in a closet, he obviously didn’t mean all the time. Here he is praying out loud just so that the
crowd can hear.
Second, we learn that Jesus knows there is nothing magic
about praying out loud. It doesn’t make
it more likely that God will do what we ask.
Instead, he prays out loud to demonstrate his faith that God has told
him to come to Bethany and return Lazarus to life.
Third, we learn that Jesus doesn’t take a long time to
explain things to God. He just
acknowledges to God what God has told him to do, and in his prayer explains to
the crowd why he is praying aloud: so that they can believe God sent him to do
this work, so that they can see he has faith that God is his Father.
Fourth, it is clear that a whiz-bang miracle like this one
is not enough to win everyone to trusting in our Father God who sent Jesus to
show us what God is like. Some will
still work against this truth. It is not
enough that a person rises from death into life. So we don’t have to succeed in getting what
we specifically ask for in order to prove to people that God is real or that
they should also be following Jesus.
Fifth, Jesus’s prayer here is an acted parable for all of us
about what our public prayers are for:
They are to demonstrate our faith that God has sent Jesus to do the work
of setting people free from spiritual death into abundant spiritual life. We are a part of the crowd that unbinds
people and lets them go free.
So we have read what Jesus said about prayer and we have
seen him pray. We have learned that
Jesus did pray privately, but he also prayed publicly, including thanking God
for food and blessing it, that he sometimes used the prayers of others, that
Jesus prayed on purpose so others would witness that he and God were in a
son/father relationship, that Jesus prayed for spiritual and for physical
needs, and that even for Jesus, prayer itself was an act of faith, as it also
is for us.
Luke 10:21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy
Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have
hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to
infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”
Jesus shows us that prayer is important, so I encourage you
to be people who pray in private, in public, for spiritual needs, for physical
needs, using spontaneous prayers or prayers written by others, but for sure, be
praying people. If any of you lack wisdom, ask God for it; God gives it
liberally without scolding; pray to the Lord of the harvest of souls to send
workers to bring them in. Pray often,
and pray simply, just like God’s little children.
