Continuing from Learning to Talk with Your Father: Paul E. Miller writes:
You’d think if Jesus was the Son of God, he wouldn’t need to pray. Or at least he wouldn’t need a specific prayer time because he’d be in a constant state or prayer. You’d expect him to have a direct line to his heavenly Father, like broadband to heaven. At least you’d thing that Jesus would do a better job of tuning out the noise of the world. But surprisingly, Jesus seemed to need time with God just as much as we do.
On the first day of his public ministry Jesus is teaching in the Capernaum synagogue of the Sabbath (see Mark 1:21-39). While the audience marvels at his authority, a demon possessed man cries out, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Jesus rebukes the demon sharply and effortlessly casts it out. The crowd is stunned.
After the synagogue service, Jesus returns to Peter’s house for the Sabbath meal, only to discover that Peter’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever. Jesus takes her by the hand and instantly heals her. She gets up and prepares lunch.
Word of the healing and the exorcism race through the seaside city of Capernaum. But the tradition of the elders doesn’t permit healing on the Sabbath unless it’s life threatening, so the town waits until evening. Mark tells us that as soon as the sun went down “the whole city gathered together at the door” (1:33). It is easy to imagine the street front of his house illuminated by the glow of hundreds of flickering oil lamps. Jesus heals far into the night. That’s why he came—there weren’t supposed to be mute children, abandoned wive’s, or thoughtless bosses.
The next morning before sunrise, Jesus wakes up, makes his way out of town to a desolate place, and prays. He is gone long enough that crowds gather again, prompting the disciples to go searching. When Peter finds him, he tells Jesus, “Everyone is searching for you” (Mark 1:37).
It is a remarkable day—the evening and the morning of the first day of a new creation. The new Adam rolls back the curse and cuts through evil. Demons and sickness flee the presence of Life. Aslan is on the move
Why Jesus Needed to Pray . . . Why does Jesus pray in the morning, in a desolate where he can’t be interrupted? His life offers three clues:
Clue #1: His Identity . . . Whenever Jesus starts talking about his relationship with his heavenly Father, Jesus becomes childlike, very dependent. “The Son can do nothing of his own accord” (John 5:19). “I can do nothing of my own. “I do nothing of my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me” (John 8:28. “The Father who sent me has himself given me . . . what to say and what to speak” (John 12:49). Only a child will say, “I will only do what I see my Father doing.
When Jesus tells us to become like little children, he isn’t telling us to do anything he isn’t already doing. Jesus is, without question, the most dependent human being who ever lived because he can’t do life on his own, he prays. And he prays. and he prays. Luke tells us that “Jesus would withdraw to a desolate place to pray” (Luke 5:16).
When Jesus tells us that “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 5:15), he is inviting us into his life of a living dependence upon his heavenly Father. When Jesus tells us to believe, he isn’t asking us to work up some spiritual energy. He is telling us to realize that, like him, we don’t have the resources to do life. When you know that you (like Jesus) can’t do life on your own, then prayer makes complete sense. ~~~Paul E. Miller A Praying Life (Nav Press, Colorado Springs, Co Tyndale) p. 31-33 (continued)
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a general audience. . . not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
