What Would Jesus Pray?
The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer to be prayed and a pattern for praying.
In previous posts we have been exploring the idea of variety in prayer. Expanding the “menu” of options available to us in prayer can do a lot to expand our vision and re-ignite our passion for spending quality time with God. Today I want to say just a few words about the Lord’s Prayer. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus introduces the prayer in this way:
"And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This, then, is how you should pray..." Matthew 6:7
The Lord’s Prayer is both a prayer to be prayed and a pattern for praying. Among evangelicals it is quite common to exegete the Lord’s Prayer as a template or an outline for praying but in this post I want to advocate for the historic-traditional method of praying the Lord’s prayer as written.
It is helpful to know that when Jesus said "This, then, is how you should pray:" (Matthew 6:9), he was literally saying, “When you pray, say this…”. (1) Such literal “form” prayers were equally common to the Jews and the early Christians, but in our time some avoid the practice and even regard it with suspicion. Why? Patrick Reardon addresses this:
“Since the Bible itself certainly encourages reiterated prayer and says nothing at all against the repetition of prayer formulas, one is in doubt how to account for that strange opposition to repeated prayer so noticeable among some Western Christians in recent centuries. It might seem that the difficulty stems from the King James’ mistranslation of polylogia (“wordiness”) as “vain repetitions,”..” (2)
Scripture often discourages “wordiness” (too much talk) and “vanity” (empty talk) in prayer, but never repetition. Of course it is always possible for our prayer to become “empty babbling”, it may even be unavoidable at times, but this is a problem related to our hearts more than our methods. As Scott Morizot writes:
“Of course, liturgical prayers can become mindless rote. But frankly, non-liturgical prayers easily become just as mindless, shallow, and empty. The problem lies not with the prayer or the form, but with us. If prayer, any prayer, is actually loving communication with God, it’s real prayer whatever form it takes. If it’s not, it’s nothing but empty words”. (3)
Morizot observes that the Lord’s Prayer focuses us on the priorities (loving God and loving others) and does not allow us to easily descend into what Scott McKnight calls ‘self-saturated prayers.’ (4) This is one of the greatest benefits of praying scripture. Scripture perfectly expresses God’s own heart and mind; we know we are praying according to the will of God when we are praying the Word. As N.T. Wright has said:
“…at its heart the Lord’s Prayer is an invitation to each Christian to share in the praying life of Jesus himself. The early Christians were very conscious of Jesus’ exalted presence before God’s throne, where his constant task is to intercede on behalf of his people (cf. Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 9:24). The Lord’s Prayer, therefore, by uniting Jesus’ people with their Lord in the prayer that formed the inner core of his own life, brings about the situation where those who pray it are even now, whether they realize it or not, “seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6; cf. Col. 3:1,3).” (5)
Daily Bread
I have found great grace in making the Lord’s prayer a part of my daily devotional routine. There is a special sense of being united with Christ as we say these words just as our savior taught us. I personally find it awe inspiring to realize that as I say these words I am joining a chorus of innumerable believers around the world who are doing the same, and standing in solidarity with the entire Christian family in time and eternity. With that thought, I will end this post with a beloved voice from our shared history:
Let us therefore, brethren beloved, pray as God our Teacher has taught us. It is a loving and friendly prayer to beseech God with His own word, to come up to His ears in the prayer of Christ. Let the Father acknowledge the words of His Son when we make our prayer, and let Him also who dwells within our breast Himself dwell in our voice. And since we have Him as an Advocate with the Father for our sins, let us, when as sinners we petition on behalf of our sins, put forward the words of our Advocate. For since He says, that "whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in His name, He will give us," how much more effectually do we obtain what we ask in Christ's name, if we ask for it in His own prayer!
Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (Second Century AD)
1) Greek, "houtos", "the very same, or exactly like this"
2) Patrick Henry Reardon, Touchstone Magazine, "The Prayer of the Publican", 1996
3) Faith and Food Blog: http://faithandfood.morizot.net
4) Scott McKnight, The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others
5) N.T.Wright, The Lord's Prayer as a Paradigm for Christian Prayer, Into God's Presence: Prayer in the New Testament, ed. R. L. Longenecker. 2001, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 132-54.
