Why Pray?

Today’s post is short, but it concludes our discussion last night at small group, because we love our children’s Kids Bridge teachers and needed to relieve them! We read Chapter 6 for this week’s small group, entitled Why Pray? and we were discussing what we thought this passage means:

“Although Jesus knew the redemptive pattern in advance—he had revealed it to his disciples—how remote it must have seemed to him in the garden. How remote it seems to all of us in the midst of our trials.” (86)

Let’s look at a key word here in this passage: redemptive. What does redemptive mean? Let’s read about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane to have some context.

Luke 22:39-46 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Jesus, being both fully God and fully man, this time of prayer in the garden was so intense that he was sweating blood! Yancey, in his book Prayer says, “For most of us prayer serves as a resource to help in a time of testing or conflict. For Jesus, it was the battle itself.” (86) Jesus knew what his future held, but that did not make going through the circumstance easier. He pled with God to relieve of this task if it was at all possible. He understood that his purpose on Earth was to make a way for mankind to be reconciled to God, through his death and resurrection. In Yancey’s book, he includes a prayer that is an expanded version of the prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden. This is simply an assumption of what Jesus may have been praying to God, but helps us understand a little better the human and godly sides of Jesus’ dilemma that night.

““Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you.” Ah, there is a way out. I need not endure the pain and    

humiliation after all. Everything is indeed possible. Legions of angels await my command.

“Take this cup from me.” There, I’ve said it. The unprayed prayer has passed my lips. I give in, give up. I cannot bear

the future, cannot bear the present. There must be some other way. I beg you, Father, if there is any other way…

“Yet not what I will but what you will.” More than anything, I will rescue and deliverance from the enemy. That is

what you will also—only not just for me but for the world. We cannot have one without surrendering the other and that, of course, is why I came. Therefore I yield. Your greater, more costly will, Father, becomes mine.”(85)

Redemptive means the work that Jesus did for us on the cross. His death and resurrection made a way for all of mankind to have a relationship with God once again. Jesus is the bridge that spans the vast trench of sin that separates us from God. Let’s look at the passage again: “Although Jesus knew the redemptive pattern in advance—he had revealed it to his disciples—how remote it must have seemed to him in the garden. How remote it seems to all of us in the midst of our trials.” (86) When Jesus prayed for God to take the task of dying on the cross from him, we see his fear, his turmoil, his anxiety, his humanity. He knew all along that the plan was for him to die on the cross to save mankind, but when it was staring him in the face, his humanity came to the surface. How much more for humans does our anxiety, our fear and our humanity keep us from being able to remember the redemptive work that Jesus has already done on the cross. Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross has made a way for us to be in the presence of God for eternity. In light of this, our perspective of the difficulties we go through in this life should change to reflect that the more important work of redeeming our souls has already been done for us. “Even so, God surely feels the same compassion for human suffering that Jesus demonstrated as he walked among us.” (87) We should pray because Jesus prayed. God loves mankind so much that he sacrificed his one and only son to restore us to himself. Jesus continuously prays for us at the right hand of God, that we might turn and believe in him. Jesus is the model of what we as Christians should do, look like and be.

I have a challenge for you. We tried some silent mindfulness prayer time last night and several people mentioned after small group how meaningful this practice was for them. Take two minutes once or twice a day to stop what you are doing, close your eyes, breathe and focus on a phrase that will ground you if your mind begins to wonder. Your phrase can be something that you want God to help you to do like “Lead me” “I need you” “Mercy”, whatever you want it to be! During this time, don’t talk or write or do any other “task”, just sit with God. If your mind begins to wander, repeat your phrase and focus on breathing and listening. God wants to speak to you. Listen.