Now it happened
that Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished one of the
disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
Of the four evangelists,
Luke is the one that mentions Jesus spending specific times in prayer the most,
whether frequently going off to pray in solitary spots, or spending the whole
night in prayer, or even praying in the presence of several of his disciples as
at the transfiguration or in Gethsemane. The reality is deceptively simple:
Jesus prayed. Which leads to the further question, “Why?” Since it is not
uncommon for us to assume that Jesus, as the ‘beloved Son’, lived in a state of
perpetual and spontaneous intimacy with God, it is striking that Jesus seemed
to need intentional times to nourish his relationship with God. This wasn’t
just for show; he needed it. As much as he was divine, he was also fully human,
able to know from inside his skin what it means to be a human being and how
important it was to regularly withdraw and pray as if his life depended on it.
Because it did.
So
it’s no surprise that the disciples, seeing how essential prayer was for Jesus,
would ask him to teach them how to pray. What I find interesting, however, is
his response. What is traditionally called “the Lord’s prayer” has over the
centuries become the most well-known prayer in all the Christian churches,
taught to most of us as children and recited or sung in most every church
service. Who of us does not have it anchored in our memory? Yet looked at by
itself, it seems too brief to be an adequate response to the original request
of the disciple. It’s utter simplicity seems to leave so much unsaid. However,
there may be another way of looking at this, one not so much concerned with
giving a set formula for prayer as expressing a broader climate in which prayer
extends and flourishes.
Let me explain what I mean. During
the long periods of prayer that Jesus seemed to take, I strongly suspect that
he was not repeating a set prayer over and over again, despite the fact that he
would have been formed in the tradition of Jewish prayer with its roots in the
Hebrew scriptures. Jesus was a contemplative par excellence, who was able to be
prayerful in all of life’s circumstances. He wasn’t always “saying prayers” so
much as he was “being prayer”. When the disciples asked him to teach them how
to pray, they wanted to learn Jesus’ way of prayer, a prayer that was not
confined to set formulas, but which was able to permeate the whole of their
life experience.
Which
is what the Lord’s prayer really is: it is a prayer that is longing for an
expansive mindset, one that is able to permeate every nook and cranny of life.
It is significant that Jesus’ first word is “Father”. Jesus was speaking out of
his own relationship with the Father, inviting them to share in that same
closeness, that same intimacy. Can we believe that? He acknowledges and
reverences the Father’s name, his very being and prays for the fulfillment of
his kingdom. Can we consent to that and hope for its realization? It is only
then that he prays for what we need to survive – food, forgiveness for our
faults, and support in the time of trial. Can we be humble enough to
acknowledge our need for divine help? And further, can we persevere in faith
when our prayer doesn’t seem to be answered according to our own timetable? Can
we trust in God? If so, the power of Jesus’ prayer is that it creates an
atmosphere, a climate of gratitude that perdures and accompanies us long after
the prayer’s final word.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.