Pray Then Like This (My Final Paper For Gospels)

Throughout the life of Christ, as He dwelt amongst mankind in human form, there were many priorities on which His ministry on earth was focused. It is evident, however, that there are some priorities that were esteemed greater than others. While it would be incredibly difficult to rate the level of significance on the priorities of Jesus, there is one priority in particular which cannot be overlooked: prayer. Prayer was tremendously exemplified in the life of Christ and is a priority that Christians should imitate and integrate into their day-to-day lives.

Jesus prays before crucial moments in His life and ministry. Throughout all four Gospels (particularly the gospel of Luke), it is clearly seen that almost every time Jesus prayed, something big was about to take place. He is seen going before God in earnest prayer countless times, especially before key moments in Biblical history. In Luke 6:12 (ESV), Jesus prays earnestly before choosing the Twelve Apostles: “In these days He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night He continued in prayer to God.” Not only does He pray intently, but He prays all night long. Nowhere else in all of the four gospels does Jesus pray for such a prolonged period of time (Nolland, “Luke 1-9:20,” 269). Choosing His apostles, the twelve men who were to be His companions throughout the entirety of His ministry, was a pretty phenomenal decision, so Jesus entreats His Heavenly Father in prayer before making that decision. We see in Luke 3:21 and 22 that Jesus prays just after being baptized, before the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descends on Him “in bodily form, like a dove,” before a “voice came from heaven” saying, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” In the midst of Jesus’ prayers, the heavens literally open, the Holy Spirit descends on Him, and God speaks. That is certainly something of immense significance.

Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane hours before He was to be crucified on the cross. In Matthew 26:39, He falls on His face and prays, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” It says in Matthew 26:42 that Jesus goes back to pray for a second time after admonishing His disciples (Peter, James, and John) for sleeping instead of watching and praying: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Likewise, in Mark 14:35 and 36, it says that Jesus “fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.’” As quoted by Evans in his commentary, “Falling to the ground attests to the distress that has overtaken Jesus” (“Mark 8:27-16:20,” 410). Luke 22:39-46 is another passage that reveals Jesus praying for deliverance from the tragic death He was soon to suffer. On multiple occasions, Jesus is recorded to have fallen on His face, which, in the Old Testament, was a “common posture in special circumstances of worship, fear, or submission” (Hagner, “Luke 18:35-24:53,” 783). Jesus, despite His passionate desire to have the “cup” (“a metaphor for the suffering and death that He was soon to face,” Hagner, “Luke 18:35-24:53,” 783) pass from Him, made it clear that He would adhere to the will of the Father (“not as I will, but as You will”), and He humbles Himself in complete and total obedience, presenting His requests to His Heavenly Father.

Jesus prays as He suffers a violent death on the cross. In Matthew 27:46 and in Mark 15:34, Jesus cries out, “‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?’” Hagner adds, “As the passion narrative began with Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (26:39), now it comes to a close with Jesus’ prayer as He experiences drinking the cup He had earlier prayed would pass” (“Matt. 14 - 28,” 844). Jesus feels completely and utterly deserted and rejected, and so He articulates His sense of loneliness and abandonment with words from Ps 22:1, “a psalm of lament” but it is also “a psalm of trust” (Hagner, “Matt. 14 - 28,” 844). In Luke 23:34, we see that there were two criminals, one that hung on another cross on His right, and one that hung on a cross on His left. Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” It can be observed in Luke 23:46 that, just before Christ breathes His last breath on the cross, He cries out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!” All throughout His agonizing death on the cross, Jesus continues to love the crude and insolent crowd, beseeching forgiveness from God, on their behalf (Luke 23:34). Moreover, just before He breathes His last, He commits His Spirit to God. Up until His last moment on earth, His final words are directed to His heavenly Father.

Jesus even blesses the food before eating it. During the Passover, in Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, and Luke 22:19, Jesus blesses (prays for) the food before breaking the bread and giving it to His disciples. Likewise, in Luke 22:19, Jesus gives thanks for the cup before giving it to His disciples to drink from. It can also be seen in Luke 24:30, after Jesus is raised from the dead, that He blesses the bread before breaking it as He dines with the men He met on the road to Emmaus. Matthew 14:19, Mark 6:14, Luke 9:16, and John 6:11 narrate Jesus blessing the loaves of bread before giving the bread to the five thousand. This shows that something as seemingly trivial and inconsequential as eating a meal is important to Jesus. It is clear that praying for the little things is essential too.

Jesus gave His followers a template for prayer. In Matthew 6:5-13 and in Luke 11:1-4, Jesus discusses the Lord’s Prayer, which is really a tool for Christians on how they are to pray. In Matthew 6:9, Jesus tells His disciples, “Pray then like this,” and goes on to recite the Lord’s Prayer. It begins with “Our Father in Heaven,” an address which offers the groundwork of the probability that, in prayer, “as Father, God is concerned for the needs of his children; as the One in Heaven, He is all-powerful” (Hagner, “Matt. 1-13,” 148). Addressing the Lord God of the Universe as our “Father” makes the prayer far more personal and intimate. The rest of the Lord’s Prayer continues on to give honor to His Name, submission to the will of the Father on earth (as well as in Heaven), and a request that He will “give us this day” and provide “our daily bread.” Verse twelve goes on to entreat forgiveness for the sins that His disciples commit (as well as the ability for the disciples to forgive those who wrong them), plea that believers of Christ will be saved from a situation where they could be lead into temptation, and delivered from the wiles of the “Evil One,” because “testing is inevitable” (Hagner, “Matt. 1-13,” 151). This prayer incorporates practically every aspect of everyday life and shows Christians how they are to pray.

In addition to the Lord’s Prayer, Christ commands us to be humble in the way that we pray. In verse five of Matthew’s sixth chapter, Jesus warns His disciples to be unlike the hypocrites “who do their utmost to attract attention to themselves when they pray” (Hagner, “Matt. 1-13,” 141). The hypocrites loved to “position themselves” in the most prominent of places where they could be most clearly seen as they prayed (Hagner, “Matt. 1-13”, 142). Instead, Christ instructs His servants: “go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” He promises His disciples that, if they obey this command, the Father “who sees in secret” will reward them (Matthew 6:6). There is no doubt that Jesus despised the arrogant phonies who sought for the approval of man as they prayed, esteeming themselves as “great” and “holy.” Jesus makes it clear that humility in prayer is essential, and praying in secret is strongly counseled. The Father who is in secret will reward those who adhere to these commands.

In the words of Jesus, I am to “pray then like this,” just as my Lord and Savior prayed. It is clear that prayer was a supreme priority in the life of Christ. Each and every time Jesus was faced with a big decision, He went away to be alone in prayer, and He turned to His Heavenly Father and entreated Him as to what He was to do. Jesus is the ultimate icon of prayer, the ultimate example that we are to emulate. Christ made it clear to us, His people, that prayer is a crucial aspect of Christianity.

Observing Christ going before God in prayer caused me to recognize that I need to turn to God and beseech Him in prayer myself - not neglect to include Him in the problems I face every single day. When I am going through a demanding and frustrating time in my life, where I am overloaded with homework, where I am battling to get any sleep at all, I need to give it up to God in prayer. When I am feeling pulled in five million directions all at once, when I am feeling completely and totally overwhelmed in general, I need to turn to Him in search for help, while having faith that He will give me strength to get through the plights and predicaments. When my family is going through a tough time, such as my mom going through chemo after having her breast cancer removed, my brother recovering from having a kidney transplant that transpired almost a year ago, and me not being able to be there because I am all the way across the world from them, I need to remember to simply give it up to God and to trust that He has it all in control.

When I see Christ blessing the food before eating it, I am reminded that I need to give up even the little things to Him in prayer. I need to give my fears to Him when I am about to give a speech that I am terrified to present. I need to hand Him the situation when there is a dispute between a roommate and myself that needs to be resolved. When I am “starving,” with no food to consume on the weekends, and I am not able to get to a store to purchase more, I need to remember that God will provide! I need to remember that God will give me the calmness of heart that I need to present that speech, the articulation of words and the opportunity that will allow me to patch things up with my roommate, and He will provide the means for me to eat on the weekends when I have nothing to eat. I know that even if He does not answer my prayers and my requests the way that I would like Him to, He does that for my own good. God has my best interest in mind in everything He does for me.

I know that I must remember that Christ is always there for me and that I am always able to cast my anxieties on Him in all circumstances. I need to constantly remind myself that Christ lived here on earth. I need to be reminiscent of the fact that He did, indeed, experience everything that we experience on a daily basis! I need to remember that I am not alone, that Christ is my source of comfort. I must not neglect to recall that He never fails to be there, to listen to my requests and my pleas. I so often forget to go to Him when I am in need! I am always catching myself trying to figure things out on my own. I fail to remember that I am small, I am weak, and I cannot cope with the overwhelming trials that I constantly seem to face as I walk through life. I need to remember to pray. I need to remember to present my requests to God and let go completely, leaving room for Him to do His great and mighty work in all of it, in His divine and perfect way.

When I don’t know how to pray, or what to pray, the Lord’s Prayer is always a prayer that I know I can resort to as a guide on how to pray. There are times when I find myself lacking in words, especially when I don’t know how to convey my thoughts in prayer to God. When this occurs, I look to the Lord’s Prayer and I am instantaneously inspired. There is no greater example for me, as a Christian, on how I am to pray, than the passage of Matthew 6:5-13. It always will, indeed, be an eternal icon that I will continue to employ on a daily basis.

Prayer was perfectly modeled for us by Christ. Time and time again we see Christ going before His Heavenly Father. After Christ prayed, often crazy things would happen (not always, not every time, but often). One such example can be seen when Jesus prays after being baptized, when the Heavens open up and the Holy Spirit descends on Him. This does not mean that something outrageous and fantastic will occur each and every time Christians pray. Believers don’t need to pray in order for great things to occur, but God does use prayer to move in mighty ways. Followers of Christ need to be obedient in prayer while following in the shadow of Christ’s Holy and glorious example. So in the words of Jesus, “Pray then like this…”