Jesus Prayed
Albrecht Durer.
But first, a moment of trivia...
Why do people fold their hands when they pray?
One possibility is that in ancient times,
when a subordinate was supplicating a favor from a superior,
it was important that the superior not suspect this as an assassination attempt.
(think Julius Caesar)
So, open hands, folded together, held out in front,
show that the person is unarmed.
And the superior does not have to risk assassination in this conversation.
JESUS PRAYED
Why did Jesus pray so much?
"If Jesus could command angels, heal the sick, raise the dead, and have fish bring him money,
why did he spend so much time praying,
giving up sleep that would have been a temporary escape from his troubles?"
This is an excellent question.
Jesus already had the power he needed to solve the woes
that most of us spend hours praying about - correct?
OK, so why did Jesus spend so much time praying to the Father?
Here's a simple possibility -
Jesus simply craved an intelligent conversation with someone on his own level.
So many times in the Gospels, we see Jesus chiding the disciples
for their inability to understand his words.
This is the reason for the photo of Christ doing a facepalm.
(though he is labeled as weeping)
John 14:
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
2 My Father’s house has many rooms;
if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the way to the place where I am going.
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
(underlines, mine)
Yes, Jesus plead-scolded them. He scolded them, pleading for them to understand.
I have a relative who is Down's Syndrome, he is about my age.
In 1984, I tested positive for MENSA, wanting to know if I was smart enough to enroll in college.
Even so, my relative and I are closer in IQ than I am to Jesus.
Jesus prayed partly, partly to enjoy an intelligent conversation.
We have many examples of this today:
1) Moms with small children long to spend time with other people that won't constantly say,
"Mommymommymommymommymommy!!!!Lookatmelookatmelookatme!!!"
2) Pastors too, like to gather with other pastors, partly for conversation that is about church,
yet is free from the demands that their church members make of them.
It happens with us, and it happened to Jesus.
When we are tempted to consider ourselves clever,
we need to consider that if our IQ is one grain of sand,
Jesus' IQ would be all the sand on all the beaches in the entire world.
And no mere mortal can really give Jesus a satisfying conversation.
While He may delight in us as a grandparent does with a jabbery grandchild,
we are not his intellectual equals.
And so, he prayed.
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Perhaps, this is why Pentecostals believe in a prayer language,
because if indeed our spirits are closer to God than our mortal minds can ever be,
then if the reborn human spirit prays,
it would be on a level above what the human mind is able to comprehend,
yet on a level with Christ, and we can ask intelligently, without impure self-interests?
But that scares a lot of people doesn't it?