Prayer Practices of Jesus
When we read the Gospels and look at Jesus’ life, we begin to notice some patterns about prayer. Here are three.
- Jesus established a regular rhythm and environment for prayer. (Luke 5:16)
In Luke’s gospel, we are met with this incredible story of Jesus healing a leper who’s condition is so bad that Luke (who is a physician) notes, “he was full of leprosy.” He set out to find Jesus, and Jesus heals him. Then, Jesus gives some instructions to go to the Temple and be declared clean by the priest, but not to tell anyone how he was healed. Somewhere along the way, he spills the beans. Can you blame him? Years of isolation, mental and physical torture, and hopelessness all gone in a touch. The word travels fast, and the crowds press in on Jesus. Almost instinctually, Jesus begins to retreat into the wilderness and pray. It’s a one-verse note in Luke, and no one would fault you for reading over it. In it, though, we get a picture of Jesus’ intentionality and rhythm for prayer.
“But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” – Lk. 15:16
Luke, in his writing structure, uses verbs to refer to both withdraw and pray. This implies a continual doing of these two actions. In other words, Luke is telling us in one short verse that Jesus made a consistent habit of withdrawing into quiet places to pray. And, he does it here in the face of unprecedented success. I mean, he just healed a leper, and the doctor who’s writing this account tells us the leper had one of the worst cases he had ever seen. Honestly, if I’m Jesus, I’d just set up shop and keep healing. I’m also probably tasking one of my disciples to make sure we record it all for accurate record keeping and an amazing infographic at the end of the ministry cycle. But, Jesus has an entirely different rhythm and intentionality for prayer that looks us square in the eyes and says, “Your Father wants to connect with you. He wants to hear your voice and for you to hear his. In fact, that connection with God is more important than the most amazing ministry!”
Let’s do a quick check-in with a couple of self-assessment questions:
- Are you intentional about the rhythm and environments for your prayer life?
- Where do you pray most often?
- When do you pray most often?
Jesus never tells us that we have to go to some iconic or holy place for God to hear our prayers. Instead, he models a life of being intentional in our rhythms and environments for prayer.
- Jesus’ prayer life is caught, not just taught. (Luke 11:1-13)
The disciples had plenty of familiarity with prayer in their communities, synagogues, and even as they passed through Gentile cities. It seemed as if everyone was praying. But no one was praying like Jesus. In fact, as they watch and listen to his prayers, they are prompted on more than one occasion to ask for his instruction. Naturally, the disciples didn’t learn about prayer exclusively through teaching, but they learned countless lessons by catching it. Remember how in one verse, in one small note, Luke told us that Jesus was intentional about his rhythms and environments for prayer? Who do you think he was taking along with him? The same guys who are asking for instructions are at this moment. They had seen the pious and proud religious leaders pretend to pray on street corners. Loud and flamboyant so that everyone around them could hear and see. They had listened to the Gentiles who thought the more words and the louder you are, the more likely the gods are to hear you. It was babbling and obnoxious. But in Jesus, they saw something different and had to know more.
When Jesus begins teaching them, he tells them to refer to God as, Father. In Aramaic, the word is Abba. In Hebrew, it is Abinu. In English, father sounds a bit formal, stale, and even a little distant. But, that couldn’t be farther from what Jesus was teaching his disciples and us about who the Father is. See, Abba is better translated as, daddy or dad. Something intimate and close. He kind of wholehearted trust that a small child has for their dad. This prayer was ground shaking for the disciples. They most likely had a picture of God as a little distant, a little removed, at least not someone so close that they could refer to him as, daddy.
It seems to me that this idea was so new to the disciples that Jesus circles back around in verses 11-13 to give a better picture of a loving heavenly Father by asking some ridiculous questions. Think about it, how crazy would your father be if you asked for a fish and he gave you a snake or asked for an egg, and he gave you a scorpion? I imagine the disciples are reacting to those questions as we do. “Duh, no good dad would do that!” And then Jesus is like, yup, neither would your heavenly Father. Not so hard, huh?
What if your heavenly Father who is good, wanted you to catch the prayer practices and patterns of his son so that you could be as close to him as Jesus was on earth? Crazy idea, right? So crazy, that when God inspired the authors of the Gospels to write, he had them capture 30 individual events over 45 passages so that you too could catch the prayer patterns and practices of Jesus; not so that you could become some professional pray-er. But, instead, so that you could draw near to the Father just as Jesus did.
If you were to go back and read the gospels looking for Jesus’ prayer life, what would you catch? And, if you were intentional about your rhythms and environments for prayer, who would catch a healthy model of prayer from you?
- Jesus prayed to remain connected to the will and presence of the Father. (Luke 22:39-46)
The sweat on the back of Jesus’ neck is increasing, his heart rate is racing, and he can see those around him talking, but their voices sound far and distant. He keeps walking and hoping for a familiar place to bring some comfort. As he gets close, the smells of the olive trees, the dew gathering on the ground and leaves, and the sounds of the night confirm he here. But tonight “here” isn’t bringing any comfort. It is his favorite place on the whole earth, but it’s like he’s never been here before. His companions are only a stone’s throw away… 100 or 200 feet at most. They’ve never seen him like this. They’ve never heard him pray like this. He falls to his face, humbled, broken, prostrate, and cries out in a loud and desperate voice, “FATHER…”
R.T France notes, “There is no other passage that gives such intimate insight into Jesus’ relationship with the Father.” Here, Jesus is about to go to the cross, and in the face of insurmountable pressure, odds, and stress Jesus gets away to pray. It is here in this moment that the battle for the cross is won. Jesus willingly takes up the cup that he knows if the Father’s plan for him so that you and I might have a chance at redemption and a renewed relationship. Jesus’ very own posture is a lesson in humility. Luke tells us that he “knelt down.” This is so uncommon in Luke’s world that he makes a note about it. Jewish men almost never knelt to pray. Instead, they prayed standing and with their eyes looking up to heaven. But here Jesus is in such stress and inner turmoil that the only posture appropriate for the moment is complete humility, and kneeling is that posture. The posture of submission and surrender. Jesus is not forced into this position but willingly assumes it. He is in such pain that Luke uses the word agony to describe it. A word that only occurs here in the NT, and then tells us how the blood vessels near his skin popped from stress and blood come out with sweat. A physical response that only happens under extreme stress.
At this moment, Jesus who has modeled that prayer is his lifeline to hearing from the Father and connecting to him in relationship, is comforted by his father. Nothing else can do that, nothing else reduces that stress. And, at this moment we are confronted by our habits of prayer in times of stress, profound and significant pain, and hopelessness. Do we see prayer as a lifeline to draw near to the father, laying ourselves humbly before him? Or, do we see it as a negotiation session? “If you do this… I’ll do this.” Jesus taught his disciples about a father in heaven who loved them. Here, he modeled what their posture before the father should be and just how good their father is. They watched him sweat, be tormented, and heard him cry out. They watched him submit to the father and take up his cup.
Do we believe that we can have the same prayer life and relational connection with the Father, just as Jesus did on earth through the Spirit? Jesus models a healthy and vibrant prayer life that I can access, and connects me to a loving heavenly Father. And, the Father wants us to catch it. It’s why he recorded it for us.