What Jesus Prayed For
Sermon
The Lord Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! He Really Is!
Gospel Sermons For Lent/Easter
What do you pray for? Maybe the question should be: "Do you pray?!"
But let's assume that sometime, somewhere, somehow, everybody prays; that as someone with the voice of experience once said, "There are no atheists in foxholes." There are no "non-pray-ers" when the only thing left to do is pray.
So, whenever you do pray, whatever do you pray for?
I have prayed for the patience of my editor as I worked on completing this book of sermons. So far my prayer has been answered. But I ran across this prayer recently, and I might just pray it, too. It's dubbed "the prayer of an author."
Grant, I beseech thee, O God, that all who read this book may be conscious of the deep spiritual insight of the writer; that the sale of this book may result in a nice little nest egg; that copies of this book, nicely bound, may make an impressive sight on the bookshelf; (and) that amid all the congratulatory applause, the writer may remain conspicuously humble.
-- Source unknown
But whether I pray that or not, what I want to know, really, what I want you to know for yourself is: What do you pray for? Another way to put it is: What do you want? What do you want out of life? What do you want out of God? What do you want badly enough that you'll talk to the ceiling (or to the floor) to get it? Whether you raise your face to see if God is there, or lower your head in fear he might be, or in deference if he happens to be, what do you ask, what do you say, when you pray?
Our Associate Pastor, John Wurster, likes to alphabetize things. I thought I'd try it.
Do you pray for Affluence, a Big Bank Balance, a new Car, or a new Direction for your life? How about an Easier life for you or someone you love? Some people seem to want a Free ride! Someone once said that around stewardship time in church it looks like a lot of folks expect to go to heaven on a scholarship! So do you ever pray for increased Generosity? (And not just for someone else, but for you, too?)
Some people pray to go to Heaven, out of fear God will get them and they'll go to Hell. I know folks who pray because they're Insecure, including some folks who look and sound anything but.
Just one more chance is what some prayers are prayed for. Just one more chance with my kids, my spouse, my parents, my job, my life. Some people pray to be Kept safe and secure. Others to be Let Loose from suffocating security. Money is always on some people's list. And the prayer is always for More.
No more of whatever it is that's driving me Nuts gets prayed for a lot. New Opportunities, new Possibilities, answers to old Questions, and Relief from old Regrets, all get mentioned. Some of us pray for Something Secret down deep in our Souls we've never shared with anyone.
Terrible things get lots of attention. Anybody paying attention to this world of ours, knows we have a lot praying to do.
The Usual things get prayed about. They're on everyone's list and they should be: sickness, suffering, sadness, circumstances beyond our control.
We pray for Victory for the good, in War with the bad, as a nation, as concerned parents, in our neighborhoods, on our streets. We pray for eXcellence (I cheated!). We pray for Yet another chance. We pray for ZZZZZ's, because everything else we pray for keeps us awake at night. A to Z. We pray. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, we pray.
And when we can't pray? Well then, the Scriptures say, Christ prays for us -- not just about us but on behalf of us, when we can't pray.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't pray for ourselves or for others, but that we have more going for us than we might think. Even when we might be thinking in our praying of giving up.
I'm a great lover of mystery stories, and especially the stories of Dame Agatha Christie. But there's no mystery in how we need to live. We need to pray. And we need to "never, never, never, give up."
Winston Churchill said that. Dame Agatha said this. She told this story in her autobiography. It's about frogs. But it's really about what it means to lead a prayerful life which is more than just mouthing a lot of prayers.
It seems two frogs jumped into a bucket of cream on a dairy farm. "May as well give up,'' croaked one after trying in vain to get out. "We're goners!" "Keep on paddling," said the other frog. "We'll get out of this mess somehow!" "It's no use," said the first. "Too thick to swim. Too thin to jump. Too slippery to crawl. We're bound to die sometime anyway, so it may as well be tonight." He sank to the bottom of the bucket and died.
His friend just kept on paddling, and paddling, and paddling. (And probably praying and praying and praying.) By morning he was perched on a mass of butter that he had churned all by himself. There he was, with a grin on his face, eating the flies that came swarming from every direction.1
Prayer is about not giving up on yourself or on God.
The prayer Jesus prayed was prayed at a time when giving up would have been easy. Jesus prayed his prayer between dinner and death. Between having dinner with his disciples (one of whom would deny him, all of whom would desert him, and one of whom would do him in) and dealing with the political realities that would lead to his death, Jesus prayed. But he did not pray for a way out; he prayed for a way forward. What Jesus prayed for when his praying time was running short was not what you'd expect. Not that long list I made.
He prayed first that in what was happening to him God would be glorified. We pray like that when we pray like him: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name ..." "Glorified be your name." He told us to pray that first. In all the rest of the stuff I've got to talk to you about, God, may there be some glory in all this for you.
Then he prayed for his disciples. He prayed for those he loved. He prayed, "Father, I don't ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe ..." (John 17:15 CEV).
The great preacher Phillips Brooks once said, "Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks" (Source unknown). That's what Jesus prayed for his disciples. Power to handle the problems ahead.
But he also prayed for something else. Something important for us to hear. He prayed it for the disciples. And he prayed it for you and me. And he was rather insistent about it. It was the last part of the last line I read from the lesson. He prayed: "... that they may be one, as we are one" (John 17:11 NRSV). "We" was Jesus and God. "They" were Jesus' closest friends. Jesus prayed for his friends a closeness, a sense of in-it-together-ness, a reality of oneness like that of God and himself.
And he also prayed that for you and me. In the part of the prayer we didn't read Jesus prayed: "I ask ... that they may all be one" (John 17:21 NRSV). "... that they may be one, as we are one" (John 17:22 NRSV). "... that they may become completely one" (John 17:23 NRSV). Three times in three sentences Jesus prayed that you and I might be of one mind and one spirit -- the mind and spirit of God.
Most on Jesus' mind and in Jesus' prayers the night before he died was you and me, and whether you and I would get it together. So we could go-it-together through that list of things we've all got. Whether people like you and me would ever come to understand that we're in-it-together whether we like it or not. That that's the way life is. And that the way to live life is not "every man for himself," but "all-for-one and one-for-all." That's two clichés in one sentence. So be it. It's true. And that's what Jesus prayed for.
That which divides us is that which destroys us. Jesus knew it -- it was destroying him. Be it the color of our skin, the color of our money, or the subdivisions in which we live, division will do us in.
So, in the urgency of that time between dinner and death, Jesus prayed that we would not be divided. He prayed that we would be one -- and not just with each other, but with him. The sense of oneness Christ prayed for us with each other is the same oneness he prays for us to have with God. There's a vertical relationship between God and me and a horizontal relationship between you and me and they should be -- in Christ will be -- the same. Just think what a world this would be if my relationship with God were like Jesus' relationship with God, and that was mirrored in my relationship with everyone around me.
This was no prima donna prayer though. Jesus' prayer for the safety of his friends says so. But still he prayed for what still seems impossible: that the kind of love we see in the relationship Jesus had with God would be the kind of love in all the relationships of our lives. Was he asking too much? It might seem so. But he didn't think so. That's why he prayed for it.
As I read Jesus' prayer, I thought about a prayer I've prayed a hundred times. I think I've prayed it at every wedding I've ever done. It's part of the prayer for the new couple -- a word which itself means "coupling," or putting together, or making one.
It goes: "Grant that their wills may be so knit together in your will, and their spirits in your Spirit, that they may grow in love and peace with you and each other all the days of their life."2
Does it always happen? No. But that's what Jesus prayed for you and me, the night before he died for you and me: that what he knew we couldn't do, God would do. He prayed God would make us one with each other and with him. That means you and I can pray no less.
We sing no less. The hymn says:
In Christ there is no east or west,
In him no south or north;
But one great fellowship of love
Through-out the whole wide earth.3
We sing it. Jesus prayed we'd learn to live it -- right here where we live together.
____________
1. Agatha Christie, Autobiography.
2. Book of Common Worship, p. 848.
3. John Oxenham, "In Christ There is No East Or West," The Presbyterian Hymnal, no. 439 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press).
But let's assume that sometime, somewhere, somehow, everybody prays; that as someone with the voice of experience once said, "There are no atheists in foxholes." There are no "non-pray-ers" when the only thing left to do is pray.
So, whenever you do pray, whatever do you pray for?
I have prayed for the patience of my editor as I worked on completing this book of sermons. So far my prayer has been answered. But I ran across this prayer recently, and I might just pray it, too. It's dubbed "the prayer of an author."
Grant, I beseech thee, O God, that all who read this book may be conscious of the deep spiritual insight of the writer; that the sale of this book may result in a nice little nest egg; that copies of this book, nicely bound, may make an impressive sight on the bookshelf; (and) that amid all the congratulatory applause, the writer may remain conspicuously humble.
-- Source unknown
But whether I pray that or not, what I want to know, really, what I want you to know for yourself is: What do you pray for? Another way to put it is: What do you want? What do you want out of life? What do you want out of God? What do you want badly enough that you'll talk to the ceiling (or to the floor) to get it? Whether you raise your face to see if God is there, or lower your head in fear he might be, or in deference if he happens to be, what do you ask, what do you say, when you pray?
Our Associate Pastor, John Wurster, likes to alphabetize things. I thought I'd try it.
Do you pray for Affluence, a Big Bank Balance, a new Car, or a new Direction for your life? How about an Easier life for you or someone you love? Some people seem to want a Free ride! Someone once said that around stewardship time in church it looks like a lot of folks expect to go to heaven on a scholarship! So do you ever pray for increased Generosity? (And not just for someone else, but for you, too?)
Some people pray to go to Heaven, out of fear God will get them and they'll go to Hell. I know folks who pray because they're Insecure, including some folks who look and sound anything but.
Just one more chance is what some prayers are prayed for. Just one more chance with my kids, my spouse, my parents, my job, my life. Some people pray to be Kept safe and secure. Others to be Let Loose from suffocating security. Money is always on some people's list. And the prayer is always for More.
No more of whatever it is that's driving me Nuts gets prayed for a lot. New Opportunities, new Possibilities, answers to old Questions, and Relief from old Regrets, all get mentioned. Some of us pray for Something Secret down deep in our Souls we've never shared with anyone.
Terrible things get lots of attention. Anybody paying attention to this world of ours, knows we have a lot praying to do.
The Usual things get prayed about. They're on everyone's list and they should be: sickness, suffering, sadness, circumstances beyond our control.
We pray for Victory for the good, in War with the bad, as a nation, as concerned parents, in our neighborhoods, on our streets. We pray for eXcellence (I cheated!). We pray for Yet another chance. We pray for ZZZZZ's, because everything else we pray for keeps us awake at night. A to Z. We pray. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, we pray.
And when we can't pray? Well then, the Scriptures say, Christ prays for us -- not just about us but on behalf of us, when we can't pray.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't pray for ourselves or for others, but that we have more going for us than we might think. Even when we might be thinking in our praying of giving up.
I'm a great lover of mystery stories, and especially the stories of Dame Agatha Christie. But there's no mystery in how we need to live. We need to pray. And we need to "never, never, never, give up."
Winston Churchill said that. Dame Agatha said this. She told this story in her autobiography. It's about frogs. But it's really about what it means to lead a prayerful life which is more than just mouthing a lot of prayers.
It seems two frogs jumped into a bucket of cream on a dairy farm. "May as well give up,'' croaked one after trying in vain to get out. "We're goners!" "Keep on paddling," said the other frog. "We'll get out of this mess somehow!" "It's no use," said the first. "Too thick to swim. Too thin to jump. Too slippery to crawl. We're bound to die sometime anyway, so it may as well be tonight." He sank to the bottom of the bucket and died.
His friend just kept on paddling, and paddling, and paddling. (And probably praying and praying and praying.) By morning he was perched on a mass of butter that he had churned all by himself. There he was, with a grin on his face, eating the flies that came swarming from every direction.1
Prayer is about not giving up on yourself or on God.
The prayer Jesus prayed was prayed at a time when giving up would have been easy. Jesus prayed his prayer between dinner and death. Between having dinner with his disciples (one of whom would deny him, all of whom would desert him, and one of whom would do him in) and dealing with the political realities that would lead to his death, Jesus prayed. But he did not pray for a way out; he prayed for a way forward. What Jesus prayed for when his praying time was running short was not what you'd expect. Not that long list I made.
He prayed first that in what was happening to him God would be glorified. We pray like that when we pray like him: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name ..." "Glorified be your name." He told us to pray that first. In all the rest of the stuff I've got to talk to you about, God, may there be some glory in all this for you.
Then he prayed for his disciples. He prayed for those he loved. He prayed, "Father, I don't ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe ..." (John 17:15 CEV).
The great preacher Phillips Brooks once said, "Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks" (Source unknown). That's what Jesus prayed for his disciples. Power to handle the problems ahead.
But he also prayed for something else. Something important for us to hear. He prayed it for the disciples. And he prayed it for you and me. And he was rather insistent about it. It was the last part of the last line I read from the lesson. He prayed: "... that they may be one, as we are one" (John 17:11 NRSV). "We" was Jesus and God. "They" were Jesus' closest friends. Jesus prayed for his friends a closeness, a sense of in-it-together-ness, a reality of oneness like that of God and himself.
And he also prayed that for you and me. In the part of the prayer we didn't read Jesus prayed: "I ask ... that they may all be one" (John 17:21 NRSV). "... that they may be one, as we are one" (John 17:22 NRSV). "... that they may become completely one" (John 17:23 NRSV). Three times in three sentences Jesus prayed that you and I might be of one mind and one spirit -- the mind and spirit of God.
Most on Jesus' mind and in Jesus' prayers the night before he died was you and me, and whether you and I would get it together. So we could go-it-together through that list of things we've all got. Whether people like you and me would ever come to understand that we're in-it-together whether we like it or not. That that's the way life is. And that the way to live life is not "every man for himself," but "all-for-one and one-for-all." That's two clichés in one sentence. So be it. It's true. And that's what Jesus prayed for.
That which divides us is that which destroys us. Jesus knew it -- it was destroying him. Be it the color of our skin, the color of our money, or the subdivisions in which we live, division will do us in.
So, in the urgency of that time between dinner and death, Jesus prayed that we would not be divided. He prayed that we would be one -- and not just with each other, but with him. The sense of oneness Christ prayed for us with each other is the same oneness he prays for us to have with God. There's a vertical relationship between God and me and a horizontal relationship between you and me and they should be -- in Christ will be -- the same. Just think what a world this would be if my relationship with God were like Jesus' relationship with God, and that was mirrored in my relationship with everyone around me.
This was no prima donna prayer though. Jesus' prayer for the safety of his friends says so. But still he prayed for what still seems impossible: that the kind of love we see in the relationship Jesus had with God would be the kind of love in all the relationships of our lives. Was he asking too much? It might seem so. But he didn't think so. That's why he prayed for it.
As I read Jesus' prayer, I thought about a prayer I've prayed a hundred times. I think I've prayed it at every wedding I've ever done. It's part of the prayer for the new couple -- a word which itself means "coupling," or putting together, or making one.
It goes: "Grant that their wills may be so knit together in your will, and their spirits in your Spirit, that they may grow in love and peace with you and each other all the days of their life."2
Does it always happen? No. But that's what Jesus prayed for you and me, the night before he died for you and me: that what he knew we couldn't do, God would do. He prayed God would make us one with each other and with him. That means you and I can pray no less.
We sing no less. The hymn says:
In Christ there is no east or west,
In him no south or north;
But one great fellowship of love
Through-out the whole wide earth.3
We sing it. Jesus prayed we'd learn to live it -- right here where we live together.
____________
1. Agatha Christie, Autobiography.
2. Book of Common Worship, p. 848.
3. John Oxenham, "In Christ There is No East Or West," The Presbyterian Hymnal, no. 439 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press).
