By: Harvie Conn
Christians
who pray earnestly and regularly may nonetheless have an impoverished
understanding of why they pray. They may base their practice on human
analogy-"Jesus prayed and so should we." But the real theological
basis is the history of redemption: "Jesus entered into the new age of
prayer, and we enter with him and after him."
Luke
in particular draws attention to the gaps in our theology of prayer. In his
two-volume story of the words and works of Jesus, he gives prayer its
theological place in the divinely directed history of redemption. Thirty four
of the eighty-four occurrences of the most common verb for prayer in the New
Testament, proseuchontai, are in
Luke's writing.
Many
scholars have noted the uniqueness of Luke's account of the prayer life of
Jesus. Luke speaks of nine prayers of Jesus, seven of which are mentioned only
by him and not by the other gospel writers. Luke alone tells us that Jesus was
praying when the heavens opened at his baptism (Luke 3:21). Luke alone tells us
that Jesus was praying alone in Caesarea Philippi, and asked his disciples,
"Who do the people say that I am?" (Luke 9:18). Luke alone tells us
that Jesus took Peter and James and John up to the mount to pray when he was
transfigured (Luke 9:28, 29). Luke alone records the request of Jesus'
disciples, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples" (Luke
11:1). Luke alone tells the prayer parables of the friend at midnight asking
for bread (Luke 11:5-8), the shameless widow begging the judge (Luke 18:1-8).
Luke alone notes the Lukas' prayer for Peter that Satan would not
"sift" him (Luke 22:31-32), and his exhortation to the disciples to
pray on their arrival at Gethsemane (Luke 22:40)
But
though writers often point out the attention Luke gives to Jesus' prayers, few
go on to delve into the reasons for this emphasis. And so they cut the line
connecting Luke's portrait of Jesus as the Messiah, the inaugurator of the
kingdom-day, and prayer. Luke s account of the prayer life of Jesus and his
people cannon be fully understood apart from Luke's approach to the history of
divine salvation. He writes of the prayer of Jesus as a basic reminder that a
new page has been turned in God's dealing with man. Jesus, the anointed of the
Spirit, enters as Forerunner into the Age of the Spirit, and his life of prayer
manifests this act of entering in. He prays "in the Holy Spirit"
(Luke 10:21).
To
Luke, Jesus' prayers are eschatological. To Jesus himself, prayer was an
eschatological activity, God's link between the beginning of the fulfillment
and it consummation in glory. The point of Jesus' kingdom parable of the
importunate widow is this that we "ought always to pray and not lose
heart" (18:1). But it ii prayer in the light of the eschatological tension
between the now and the not-yet. God will avenge his elect speedily, but the
widow must call upon the judge repeatedly. Jesus has come and the kingdom has
come, But now we must wait for that day when the righteous judge comes to
fulfill his kingdom pledge of full salvation and full judgment. And till that
day comes, in the tension time between the beginning of fulfillment and the
con' summation of fulfillment, Jesus says we 8r€ to "watch and pray."
This
eschatological perspective in prayer is a great feature of the Old Testament
prophets. The prophets describe the time of the coming kingdom as a time of
answered prayer. Isaiah had told Israel God would host her prayers no longer
(Isaiah 1: 15). "Your iniquities that made a separation between you and
your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, o thud he cites and
hear" (Isaiah 59:2). Isaiah means this as more than simply a divine
reminder of the prerequisite of moral purity for answered prayer. God's people,
he was saying, were no longer a kingdom of priests. So God was going to send a
true priest, and when he came, there would be a new beginning to our prayer
life.
God
is going to visit as he did in the Garden of Eden. And this time, his people
will call and not flee (Isaiah 58:9). God is going to "create new heavens
and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind”
(Isaiah 65:17). And in this new paradise, the wolf and the lamb shall graze
together, lions shall eat straw and "before they call I will answer, while
they are still speaking I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24)
In
this new heavens and new earth, all shall pray and worship the Lord. Foreigners
who join themselves to the Lord will be brought to God's holy mountain (Isa.
56:6,7 ). And the center of their joy will be God's house of prayer, which
"will be called a house of prayer for all people" (Isaiah 56:7). The
last book of the Old Testament sounds the note of a coming great day of prayer.
"From the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the
nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name" (Malachi.
1:11).
Now,
says Luke is his two-volume work, that great day' of redemption has dawned, and
Jesus, the captain of our salvation, has first entered in as the new Adam. The
door opens with prayer. So the opening two chapters of Luke's Gospel are divine
talk-shows in which two themes are discussed: the new age come, prayers
offered. While the people stand at prayer outside (Luke 1:10), the angel speaks
to Zechariah of the coming of the Lord of the new day. Mary sings her prayers
to God in praise of the One who has come (Luke 1:46 ff.). Zechariah is
described in Luke's eschatological short-hand phrase as "filled with the
Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:67) and his prayer becomes prophecy, his prophecy
prayer. 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel" (Luke 1:68). Simeon takes the
baby kingdom-builder in his arms and prays. Anna sees God's salvation. And she
gave thanks to God. (Luke 2:38). The Old Testament flavor of these
opening chapters’ moves from a text book history approach to front page
newspaper journalism, as we participate in Lord’s unfolding history.
So
the first place we read of prayer in the life of Jesus is at his baptism. While
he is praying (Luke 3:21 ), the Holy Spirit comes as a dove to mark the opening
of the final page in God's history book, just as a dove had marked
another new eschatological beginning earlier (Gen. 8:8ff.) The heavens are
opened. a signal of the final dialogue between God and man, and Jesus is
invested for the beginning of the new covenant, day of prayer for all
people. And that is signalized also by prayer.
Jesus
is led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days. He enters as the last
Adam (something Luke draws special attention to by carefully placing his
chronology between the baptism and the wilderness histories - 3:23-38 and
designating Jesus, at the climax of the chronology as "the son of Adam,
the son of God"). Jesus enters the wilderness as the Remnant, the Elect
One (Isa 42:1: 45:4). Israel had received its testing for forty years under the
leadership of Moses. Now Christ as the Remnant Israel, the new Moses, is
tested. Will it be paradise lost or regained? Again, the context of whole
Messianic struggle is the context of prayer.
Twelve
apostles are chosen in Luke 6 to proclaim the healing power of the kingdom here
and now, to proclaim blessing to the poor here and now because theirs is the
kingdom of God. Luke tells us that before that selection was made Christ,
"went out into the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to
God" (Luke 6:12). Jesus, mission is not simply undergirded with prayer; it
is to be identified with prayer.
At
Caesarea Philippi, he reveals to his disciples in a clearer way than ever
before his imminent death and resurrection in its relation to his Messianic
purposes. And all this begins, says Luke, while he is praying alone (Luke 9:18).
On the mount of transfiguration, Luke alone specifically tells us of the nature
of the conversation Jesus had with Elijah and Moses: they were speaking of
"his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31).
And Luke again relates the mission of Jesus - his death, his resurrection, this
preview of coming glory - to prayer; Christ had gone up on the mountain to pray
(Luke 9:28 ).
This
is not coincidence. Jesus' prayers are another window onto his relationship
with the Father, and the task given him by his Father. A new way of praying is
born, for One has come who displays a new and exclusive relation to the Father,
one that has no analogy (Luke 10: 21, 22). The disciples sense this. "He
was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said
to him, ' Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples"'(Luke 11:1.)
There
is more here than a group of men impressed with the prayer life of Jesus. Their
question reveals far more than simply their failures in learning how to pray.
Joachim Jeremias reminds us that religious groups in Jesus' day apparently had
characteristic prayers (New Testament Theology, Scribner, 1971, p. 170). The
Pharisees had such prayers, as did the community at Qumran, and the disciples
of John the Baptist. Now Jesus' disciples ask, "Give us a fixed prayer
that will correspond with your message and your work. Teach us to pray as men should
pray who are partaking now in the kingdom of God and yet waiting also for is
final fulfillment."
So
Jesus teaches us how to pray in the new age. The heart of the prayer he taught
is the heart of his message and his mission-the coming of the kingdom. "Thy
kingdom come," he says. And in connection with that kingdom's coming, may
the name of God be hallowed, may the will of God be done (Matthew. 6:33; 5: 19,
20). May there be a realization here and now of the saving gifts and blessings
of God-forgiveness of sins (Jer. 31:34; Matt. l8:23 ff. ) and bread "for
the coming day." May there be preservation from the apostasy of the last
terrible hour of temptation, present now (John 16:33) but still to come in its
fullest sense. For all these things, the followers of Jesus are to seek, to
ask, to find (Luke 11:9 ff.). And they will not be disappointed.
The
final great cycle of prayer in Luke's Gospel comes where now we should expect
it - at the place where all the Gospels draw us, the place of Jesus' Kingdom -
enthronement, his death and resurrection. Luke alone tells us Jesus is
strengthened by an angel in the garden in the preparation for his coming
judgment - salvation ordeal. And Luke tells us that in prayer he gives up
his soul as an offering for sin to the Father (Luke 22:39 - 46). Two of the
three last words of Jesus on the cross recorded by Luke are prayers (Luke 23:34,
46) And to this, Hebrews adds the note that through his prayer he is raised
from the dead. "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and
supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him
from death, and he was heard for his godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7 ). The
resurrection of Jesus, the climax of Book One, is a response to the prayer of
the God - man, Jesus.
At
this point Luke reinforces the link between Jesus at prayer and his Church at
prayer. For he has a second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, to write
his history of all that Jesus, through the Spirit, does and teaches (Acts 1:1
). Jesus has entered the new age of the Spirit in prayer. Now his people enter
that age after him. And the same characteristic of the new age marks them as
well. These people who “devoted" themselves to prayer"(Acts 1:14).
Acts provides the link between Jesus and his covenant people, the prayer
sign for the people who live in the between - times. The last verses of the
Gospel had centered in a climax of prayer and praise (Luke 24:52 - 53). In the
opening verses of Acts the center is still prayer. Only now it is inauguration,
not climax. And it is Jesus' people at prayer, not Jesus.
The
Messianic, kingdom ministry of Jesus now becomes the Messianic, kingdom
ministry of Jesus' people. And with both Jesus and his people, it is a ministry
related to prayer. .."In prayer," a replacement for Judas is
appointed to the ministry of the apostolate (Luke 1:24). "After
praying," the church sets apart the seven and initiates the ministry of
waiting on tables (Luke 6:6). After fasting and prayer, the church Antioch
sends Barnabas and Saul to fulfill Christ's commission (Luke 13:2, 3). Elders
are appointed in the struggling new churches of Asia Minor "with prayers
and fasting" Luke 14:23).
Just
as Jesus manifested the kingdom blessings of salvation and forgiveness of
sins, the blessings of the new day of new prayer, so also the Church manifests
those same kingdom blessings in that same new day of prayer. The comparison is
not a devotional exercise of "like - and" but a history -
of -redemption exercise of ,"initiation - succession - consummation."
Paul and Silas proclaim the kingdom blessing of salvation to the Philippian
jailor at midnight, and they preface their evangel of the kingdom with prayer
and singing (Luke 16:25) in the prison. Jesus announces the coming of the
Kingdom through mighty signs of healing, recovery of sight to the blind,
life to the dead, and the early Church announces that same kingdom,
come in Christ and coming in Christ, , through those same mighty signs. Peter
prays and calls in kingdom - power anticipation, and the dead Tabitha arises
(Luke 9:40). Paul prays and the sick are healed (Luke 28:8). Jesus comes in
prayer to "proclaim release to the captives," and the early Church's vigil
of prayer brings freedom to the captive Peter; the Kingdom blessing of prisoners
set free becomes reality (Luke 12:12 ).
The
new Age of the Spirit will see old men dreaming dreams and young men seeing
visions (Luke 2:17) Peter sees a sheet let down from heaven, and Luke tells us
it happened when he went. up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray"
( Luke 10 : I 0). Cornelius sees a man in shining garments. "Call for
Peter," the man says. And when Peter comes, Cornelius tells him, I was
praying in my house" (Luke 10:30)
God's
cure for what Dennis Clark has called "the aggressive know - it- all do -
it - now disease of western Christianity" lies precisely here: putting the
gem of prayer in a setting not of pietistic devotional exercise but of
God-centered redemptive history, seeing the age of the kingdom come and coming
as the age of prayer between the times. Write on the cover of your little book
of recorded prayer requests, as an elderly Korean evangelist did on his, a
title: "The book of the kingdom of God."
When
this link between God's redemptive ordering of history and his demands on our
individual lives is severed, prayer has a way of floating away from the
center, of becoming peripheral to the heart of things. Long before the
"new theologian" begins to question the validity of preaching, he has
questioned the validity of prayer. Why shouldn't he? The evangelical long ago
confined it to that neat little compartment of "house - keeping
projects" known as the devotional life, the schizophrenic bungalow
"around the back,, of what Daniel Poling has spoken of as "the biggest
buildings - and -grounds, construction - and - shrub - trimming period of
Christian history." "Radical Christianity," either to the left
or to the right of center, is looking for roots to reform. Very seldom does it
look at prayer as a root.
Any
evangelical pastor who lacks Luke's insight may adopt a pragmatic view of
prayer, and look for theological heresies in the footnotes rather than at the
prayer meetings. He prays without a theological consciousness of the place of
prayer in God's redemptive history, it's vital part in kingdom reality. To that
extent, he misses the theological reasons why one prominent American cleric was
supposed to have said once to the New York state legislature: "I'm not
going to pray for you. There are certain things a man does for himself. He has
to blow his own nose, make his own love, and say his own prayers."
One
says his own prayers, draws his own breath, insofar as he realizes that
God, through Christ, has placed him in the center of a whole new beginning,
an astronaut in a new atmosphere, the first day of the new creation, the
age of new prayer.
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