Friday, August 10, 2012

Why Did Jesus Pray?

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed…  Luke 9:28-29

Why did Jesus pray?  So often in Luke’s Gospel and much more frequently in the coming year we will come across Jesus praying.  If we could capture the pattern, the passion and the dependency of Jesus’ prayer rhythms, think of the life change we would be experiencing.

I get the sense that Jesus prayed NOT just to ask God for things, but to enjoy Him and grow in intimacy with him.  Last week I heard a grown woman tell of her memories of her parent’s marriage while her father was serving in World War II.  She tells of a nightly routine of her mom putting her seven kids to bed and then heading to a desk, getting out a piece of paper and envelope that were each numbered and spending an hour or so writing down the details of the day in a love letter.  She would seal the envelope, and place it in a box in successive order, and then go to bed.  Ever two weeks, she would deliver the box to the base where they would be airlifted to the ship at sea where her dad was serving.

Her favorite memories were when her mom would get the mail shipment from sea and when she saw her mom receive a box, every two weeks or so, of successive letters, one a day, all in numerical order from her dad.  It was sacred time and her mom would go to the bedroom and read one letter after the other.

Intimate allies parted because of a war, connected through letters and striving the best they can for intimate connection and communication.  It seems to me that was the essence that drew Jesus to prayer and that is what should be driving us as well.

We look at the transfiguration this Sunday together.  We get to study yet another experience that started with Jesus praying, and I look forward to gathering together.
I love being your pastor!