[ p. 172 ]
With the advance of modern civilization, many thoughtful leaders are agreed that in the tendency toward a mechanical and routine - existence there lurks a great danger to the individual. A man becomes a part of a great business into which he fits himself, he performs his appointed task during the day, he eats the foods which are set in front of him, he often spends his evenings in whatever commercialized amusements confront him most persuasively.
Individual character and personality are the hope of the human race. Without these there can be no real progress. The ultimate brotherhood of man and the perfected society are but idle dreams unless individual consciences are awakened and great souls are developed. This ideal of progress in personal character can only be attained by a definite effort on the part of each individual to detach himself repeatedly from the machinery of his daily duties. He must form the habit of spending a portion of his time in thoughtful consideration of his own place and worth in the universe.
If he has no vital knowledge of God, he may spend this time of detachment in analyzing his own thoughts and ideals of service and happiness. If his God is evolution, he may devote himself for a while each day to contemplating the accomplishments of humanity from the time of its first animal-like existence to its culmination in the scientific discoveries and social attainments of the present. If his God is nature, he may think of mountain tops and rushing streams, or his soul may travel [ p. 173 ] among the stars in the vastness of the universe. If to him God is a transcendent spirit who comes close to human hearts, he will spend his time in communion with that spirit which has lighted the souls of great men in every age. If he is a Christian in thought as well as name, he will find this spirit supremely revealed in the personality of Jesus.
“Religion is inner life,” says Deissmann. [1] “It brings forth a rich life … it enriches culture … it is a living and moving in God … it is always a communion of man with his God.” Without such communion, our civilization and culture must become a mere mechanism which will soon stop for lack of fuel and power. Such an idea of prayer not only belongs in a world of science; it is an indispensable part of it.
When a man prays, he naturally gives expression to those elements of character which are a part of his ideal but lacking or imperfect in his own life. His prayer sometimes takes the form of a petition, “Give me more patience,” or, “Help me to be of greater service.” It is important to notice that such petitions are not superstitious appeals for personal comfort, but are attempts of the soul to attain a higher life through communion with God. Since prayer often takes the form of petition, much misunderstanding of its true character and value in modern life has resulted. But such misunderstandings are rapidly clearing away. There is no longer any place for doubt that prayer rightly understood is a fundamental essential of character and progress.
Jesus once said, “When you pray, go into your own room and shut the door” (Matt. 6: 6). One man puts this into practice frequently when he goes into a busy Chicago railroad station. While he waits for his train to take him to his suburban home, he finds a corner in the waiting-room and puts a newspaper in front of him. The newspaper is a closed door to the outside world and the man finds a new power in a few minutes of fellowship with Jesus and, through Jesus, with God.
In a recent classroom discussion, one student defined prayer [ p. 174 ] as a charging of the battery of the soul through contact with the infinite God. This figure has in it much of truth, but the class put it in second place when another student contributed his definition. “Prayer,” he said, “is a tuning-in of the radio of the soul, to catch the music and message of the eternal.”
After Jesus’ baptism, while he was praying, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came down upon him (Lk. 3: 21).
Early in the morning, before daylight, Jesus got up and went out and found a lonely spot and prayed there (Mk. 1: 35).
After he had taken leave of them, he went up to pray (Mk. 6: 46).
Taking the five loaves and the two fishes, Jesus looked up to Heaven and gave thanks (Mk. 6: 41; Matt. 14: 19. Cf. Mk. 8: 6; 14: 22; Matt. 26: 26; Lk. 24: 30).
Great crowds came together to listen to him; . . . but he himself used to retire to lonely places to pray (Lk. 5 : 16).
The rabbis and Pharisees became angry and excited; they began discussing what they could do to Jesus. It was then that he went up in the mountain to pray and to spend the whole night in prayer with God (Lk. 6: 11, 12).
Once when Jesus was praying in a lonely spot, his disciples with him, he asked them “Who do people say that I am?” (Lk. 9: 18.)
Jesus went up the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James with him. While he was praying the appearance of his face became quite different, and his clothing took on a dazzling whiteness. . . . Peter and his companions had been overpowered by sleep and [ p. 175 ] they awoke and saw his glorious appearance (Lk. 9: 28, 29, 32).
When the seventy-two returned, they were very happy. . . . Jesus said, “I have had a vision of Satan fallen like a flash of lightning”. . . . Jesus said, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth” (Lk. 10: 17, 21).
“Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you all like wheat, but I have prayed for you personally, that your own faith should not fail” (Lk. 22: 31, 32).
They came to the Garden of Gethsemane. “Sit here,” said Jesus to his disciples, “while I go and pray.” Going on a short distance, he kneeled down and prayed: “Abba [Father] all things are possible with thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will but what thou wilt” (Lk. 22: 39-42).
Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psa. 22: 1; Mk. 15: 34.)
Then Jesus called with a loud voice, “Father, into thy hands I intrust my spirit” (Psa. 31: 5; Lk. 23: 46).
Prayer was an essential part of the Jewish religion of Jesus’ day. Jesus learned to pray from his earliest years. The first chapter of Mark describes how Jesus, rising long before daylight, found a lonely spot and prayed there. It was evidently a practice which he frequently followed. Often in that mountainous country he climbed up nearer heaven to spend a while talking and listening to his God (Mk. 6: 46). On some occasions he spent the whole night in prayer (Lk. 6: 12).
The story of the transfiguration is full of suggestion regarding the effect of prayer upon Jesus. As we read Mark’s account we can almost hear Peter narrating to his early Christian audiences the remarkable occurrence: While he was praying the appearance of his face changed, assuming a heavenly [ p. 176 ] grandeur. And his very clothing seemed to be whiter because of that glory.
Luke has preserved for us more records of the prayers of Jesus than Matthew or Mark. From the beginning of the ministry to the end, he tells of the rich prayer life of Jesus. It was while Jesus was praying at the time of his baptism that he saw the heaven open, heard the voice of God and received his spirit. At the time of the feeding of the multitude, he looked up to heaven and gave thanks. Whenever the crowds gathered, he talked to them for a while, but after the talk, he retired to a lonely place for personal communion with his heavenly Father (Lk. 5: 16).
At every decisive turning-point in his career he took time for prayer. When the question confronted him in regard to messiahship, “Who do people say that I am?” he was found praying with his disciples (Lk. 9: 18). How anxious must have been Jesus’ thought for the seventy-two when he sent them out to try their hand at preaching and healing! How full of joy was his prayer upon their return, “I thank thee, Oh Father!” (Lk. 10: 21.) How earnest was his prayer for Simon—would Satan win him or would Simon become the chief apostle? (Lk. 22: 31.)
The prayers of the last hours reveal the darkest depths of Jesus’ agony and display the sublime quality of his heroism. In Jesus’ prayers Mark has preserved the original Aramaic word for Father. It is probably the most expressive single word in the Bible. Peter must have heard Jesus say “Abba” with such remarkable depth and feeling of tone that Peter himself learned how to repeat the word to others with something of the religious meaning which Jesus gave. Mark heard Peter use the word and has passed it on to all succeeding generations of Christians. Jesus’ prayer to his Father in Gethsemane is not one in which he seeks to escape the Father’s will, but one in which he seeks to know that will and bring himself into harmony with it.
The prayers upon the cross are the final revelation of his [ p. 177 ] closeness to God and of his victory over suffering and death. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” As Deissmann has well said, Jesus did not create the words of this prayer. It is a quotation from a familiar Psalm. Nevertheless, it shows that Jesus addressed God even in a time when it seemed as though God had forsaken him. The prayer is not even a petition. “This prayer, with its elementary burden of need, accomplishes more than a hundred comfortable theses against the reasonableness of prayer. This prayer teaches prayer … it teaches that communion with God signifies a struggle for God—a struggle between God-nearness and God-forsakenness.” [2] In this fierce struggle, Jesus emerged victor. His victory is voiced in his final prayer, “Father, into thy hands I intrust my spirit.”
The beauty and power of the prayer life can be learned through fellowship with Jesus. In prayer, Jesus communes with his God as a child talks with his father. The prayer may express any attitude which the child may have toward his father. It may be a quiet petition, a passionate supplication, a shout of joy, or a cry of pain. Prayer is for Jesus a holy and personal matter. The world is not permitted to listen to it. There is nothing magical about it. It is a marvelous, powerful remedy. It heals the sick soul, it gives patience and courage, it inspires with insight and vision and it results in victory and beauty of life.
Jesus said to them, “What will happen if one of you who has a friend goes to him in the middle of the night and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, a friend of mine has just arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to set before him’? The other may answer from inside, ‘Do not disturb me now; the door is locked and my children are in bed with me. I cannot [ p. 178 ] get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is a friend, yet if the demands are persistent, he will get up and give him all that is needed” (Lk. 11: 5-8).
Jesus gave them a story to illustrate the need of persistence in prayer and of never becoming discouraged. “There was in a certain city a judge who had no fear of God or regard for men. In the city there was a widow who used to come to him with her petition, “Give me justice against my opponent.” And he was not willing for a while, but later he said to himself, “Even though I do not fear God or regard men, yet because this widow makes so much trouble for me, I will see that she gets a hearing, so that she will not wear me out with her visits” (Lk. 18: 1-5).
Two men went into the court of the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up straight and prayed to himself in this way. “God, I render thanks to thee that I am not like the rest of the people, greedy, dishonest, impure, like this tax-collector. I fast twice each week, I give a tenth of all I gain.”
The tax collector, standing at a distance, could not even raise his eyes to heaven, but struck upon his breast, saying, “God, have mercy on this sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home with God’s approval rather than the other; for everyone who lifts himself up will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will find himself exalted” (Lk. 18: 9-14).
When you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites who like to pray standing in the synagogues and in public places, for others to see them. I assure you that is the only reward they will obtain. When you pray, go into your own room and shut the door and pray to your Father quietly, and your Father who sees what is within, will recompense you. [ p. 179 ]
When you pray, do not use the same empty phrases over and over, as many peoples do who imagine that they get a hearing by using many words. Do not be like them, for your God, who is your Father, knows what you need before you ask him (Matt. 6: 5-8).
This sort of demon can be expelled only through prayer (Mk. 9: 29. Cf. Mk. y. 34 a nd Matt. 26: 53 )
Ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and a door will open to you, for it is the one who asks who receives, and the one who searches who finds, and the one who knocks to whom a door opens.
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? In the same way, if you, bad as you are, know enough to give good things to your children, how much more surely will your Father above give the Holy Spirit to those who pray to him (Lk. 11: 9-13) Have faith in God. I assure you, if anyone should say to this mountain, remove and hurl yourself into the sea, and would not have any doubt in his heart but believe that what he says will happen, it would be so for him. Therefore I tell you, have faith that whatever you ask for in prayer, you have received, and it will be yours.
And whenever you stand and pray, forgive anything you have against anyone, so that your Father above may forgive you your shortcomings (Mk. 11: 22-25; I Cor. 13: 2).
If your faith were even as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you (Lk. 17: 6).
Not merely prayer, but persistence in prayer is an essential of the religion of Jesus. The parable of the friend who came at midnight to ask for bread (Lk. 11: 5 — 8) has been frequently misunderstood. It has been made to mean that in [ p. 180 ] some cases God is at first unwilling to grant a petition, but after much imploring finally yields and grants the request. As pointed out before, however, in presenting a parable Jesus always has in mind one particular point which he wishes to teach. The context of this parable indicates that Jesus is illustrating the effectiveness of persistence in prayer. The teaching is that the more a man associates with the Eternal Spirit, the more power and beauty of soul will be his.
The story of the unprincipled judge who turned a deaf ear to the widow’s case (Lk. 18: 1-5) is similar. It should not be called the story of the judge, but the story of the pleading widow. Many of these stories are autobiographical. Jesus poured out his soul to God, not only in Gethsemane and on the cross, but all through his life. He begs his disciples to have as great an earnestness in their prayers as he had in his, the same burning desire for nobility of life and for the establishment of human brotherhood as this widow had for her cause. Such passionate communion with God regenerates the soul so that it is created and re-created in the image of God.
The parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector is one of the gems of religious literature. Unforgettable is Jesus’ portrayal of the Pharisee who stands in his prominent place in the temple and gives thanks that he is better than other men. He is not seeking anything and does not receive anything. As Jesus says elsewhere, such a man has already received his reward in his pleasant self-complacency. He has “given a receipt” for what is due him and can hope for nothing more. The poor tax-collector, beating his breast, uses few words, but has a reverent earnestness and passionate longing for a divine blessing which shall deliver him from his meanness and selfishness. He was the one who went home with God’s justifying approval.
No teacher ever emphasized the glory and worth of individual personality more than Jesus. The tax-collector’s humility and the Pharisee’s complacency have sometimes been perverted into a teaching that Jesus condemned personal pride and en [ p. 181 ] couraged a man to think lightly of his own powers and capacities. Just the reverse is Jesus’ thought. The Pharisee who is contented with himself has no chance for further and larger self-realization, because he expresses no desire for it. The man who thinks of his present self as utterly imperfect and incomplete is the one who is going to grow. He is the one who has the large ideals and the future possibilities. He is the only one whom God can help and always does help. Self-content spells stagnation.
A Jewish synagogue service in Jesus’ day included many specified prayers; at least eighteen definitely formulated prayers are known which were used in the ordinary services. Jesus warns his disciples against too many set prayers. It is probable that in the saying of Matthew 6: 7, Jesus had in mind not only the “Gentiles” (American Standard Version) but also those Jews who memorized set prayers and wore them upon their foreheads, taking pride in their piety and in their ability to repeat these prayers in the temple or elsewhere.
Jesus directs his disciples to avoid all publicity in their own personal prayers. It is the one who strives to express his own soul and his own personal needs, especially the one who in agony of spirit seeks to bring his own soul into harmony with the Eternal and the Infinite, who always receives his recompense from the Father.
Moreover, God knows us better than we know ourselves. The father knows what the child needs, even before he asks. “God does not need our prayers. This is a warning, not against the prayer of petition, but against the unchildlike, stubborn prayer, against the prayer of petition that is thought of as compelling magic.” [3]
Jesus used many striking phrases in describing the power of personal prayer, and he was not afraid of critics who might say that his illustrations could not be taken literally. Thus throughout his ministry Jesus suggested the value of prayer by example rather than by formal edict. An effective use of [ p. 182 ] this “case method” is given in the account of the transfiguration. Peter, John and James had seen Jesus praying and had observed the changed appearance of his face. Later they came down from the mountain with Jesus and found a boy possessed of an evil spirit, whom the disciples had not been able to heal. As Jesus, with considerable effort, was able to restore the boy, he remarked that only through prayer is such an accomplishment possible (Mk. 9: 29). His disciples had not gone through his prayer experience.
“Ask and you will receive” (Lk. 11:9). This seemingly radical statement should not disturb the modern reader, for Jesus was searching for a statement extreme enough to compel his followers to think deeply and search their own hearts. Jesus says that no prayer can go unheard and unanswered, but it is always the Father’s will which we should seek to know. One who does not ask at all naturally does not receive, and one who stands in front of a door without knocking, is not likely to have the door opened to him. The Heavenly Father knows how to give good things to his children and above all the Father will “give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Lk. 11: 13).
The most striking and, at the same time, the most popular expression of the power of prayer is to be found in Jesus’ saying with regard to the mountain. It is so striking as a vehicle of spiritual truth that it was carried over by Paul into his immortal poem on the power of love (I Cor. 13: 2).
“This is one of the most certainly genuine of the words of Jesus … it bears witness to the wonderful paradox of the power of prayer, which is effective beyond all understanding.” [4] What Jesus wishes to say is that the one who prays in faith has remarkable, if not miraculous, power. Let us not try to criticize the illustration, but say rather that if there were some still deeper and more striking expression, it would still be inadequate to express to men the importance and the power of repeated and constant attempts to tune our souls to catch the harmony and beauty of the infinite love of God.
[ p. 183 ]
One day while Jesus was praying in a chosen place . . . when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Master, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.” Then he said to them, “When you offer a prayer, say:
Our father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forevermore. Amen. [5]
The Lord’s Prayer as just given is the result of a considerable evolution of early Christian ritual. The benediction with which it closes “For thine is the kingdom,” etc., is not found in the early manuscripts of the New Testament. It was natural that Christians of the second century or later should wish to close their prayer in some such way. It was also natural that later editions of the Gospel of Matthew should include the prayer in the form in which it was used in the churches in these later centuries. Hence at the time of the Reformation, and later when our King James Version was made, this little benediction had been incorporated into many copies of the Testament. It was not a part of the original Gospel of Matthew.
The version of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew is somewhat longer than the parallel given by Luke. It is quite possible that Matthew has modified the source which he and Luke both [ p. 184 ] used, and has made the prayer into a form which would be more in line with the church service of his day, being careful, of course, to preserve the spirit of Jesus’ original words. Luke has a habit of following his literary sources rather closely, and we may conclude with considerable certainty that the earlier written record of the Lord’s Prayer read approximately as in Luke n: 2-4:
“Father, may thy name be revered,
May thy kingdom come,
Give us day by day our bread for the day,
Forgive us our sins
For we also forgive anyone who wrongs us,
And do not bring us into temptation.”
There are many points of likeness between the Lord’s Prayer and those employed in the Jewish synagogue, especially the eighteen prayers which were used in the ordinary service. [6] But Jesus gives new meaning and a new spirit to the familiar words.
“Father” (Luke 11: 2) was often used by the Jews in their prayers, but Jesus made of it a new word. “Father” in the Old Testament means creator. “Father” for Jesus means such a father as is pictured in the parable of the prodigal son, the one who, while his child is still a long way off, runs to welcome and to embrace, the one who knows how to give good gifts to his children (Lk. 11: 13).
It takes a distinct effort to hold this warmth of relationship in mind as the prayer passes to the second thought, “May thy name be revered.” This is, of course, not a petition that God’s name should not be lightly used in profanity or idle speech. As a study of Old Testament and Jewish usage at once reveals, “name” means “character.” It would not be far wrong to translate “May thy name of Father, and our relation as sons and brothers, be held more sacred than everything else in life.” It is thus evident that the purpose of the Master’s Prayer is to bring the soul into communion and union with that guiding [ p. 185 ] Spirit which has through the ages delivered mankind out of darkness into light, has emancipated man from the beast, and has led humanity far toward a reign of brotherhood and mutual helpfulness.
“May thy kingdom come.” Again it is no asking of any personal blessing which is the content of this prayer. The prayer for the coming of the kingdom was a common Jewish utterance in synagogue worship: “May he establish his kingdom during your life.” But Jesus changed the whole meaning of the old words when he placed upon his disciples a responsibility for preparation of themselves and others for that kingdom. “Kingdom” means rule or supremacy in the spiritual sense. A modern translation might read, “May the supremacy of love be established in my heart and in the world at large.” [7] The petition thus follows naturally the preceding “May thy name be revered.” The purpose is to bring the heart of the one who prays into touch with that great unbounded Power which is causing brotherhood to triumph in individual souls and so in the world at large.
“Give us day by day the food that is needful.” This sounds at first like a personal petition. But both Jewish usage and the teaching of Jesus show that its real meaning is to be found in the Old Testament passage from which it is in substance a quotation:
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is needful for me;
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is Jehovah?
Or lest I be poor, and steal, and use profanely the name of my god. [8]
The purpose of this petition of the Master’s Prayer is to free the soul from anxiety for material things in order that neither want nor plenty may interfere with the actual practice of the presence of the Kingdom and the rule of love.
“Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive anyone who wrongs [ p. 186 ] us.” Forgiveness of others is the only part which is not paralleled in Jewish prayers. It recalls Jesus’ words to Peter that he should forgive his brother not seven times, but seventy times seven. “Forgive us our sins” brings to mind that Jesus’ idea of sin is concerned more with omission than commission. In the scene of the Great Judgment, the judge says to those on his left: “I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. … I was sick and you did not visit me.”
“Do not bring us into temptation.” In the dramatic scenes of the Book of Job, God allows Satan to tempt Job. But according to James x: 13, “No one should think when he is tempted that his temptation comes from God, for God . . . never tempts anyone. When a man is tempted it is by his own desire that he is lured.” The purpose of the petition of Jesus’ prayer is to strengthen our confidence that it is not God who torments us in a time of moral conflict in our souls, rather that he always stands ready to help on the side of the nobler and purer life.
In the midst of the vastness of the material universe and the limitless possibilities of moral catastrophe a human being, through the medium of persistent prayer, can keep in vital touch with that unseen reality which is emancipating him from what is lower, and creating and recreating the higher and finer forms of life.
Brown, W. A., The Life of Prayer in a World of Science (1927).
Bundy, The Religion of Jesus , pp. 141-209.
Burton, Teaching of Jesus , pp. 161-166.
Deissmann, The Religion of Jesus , pp. 43-68.
Dell, S., Roman Society , pp. 443-483.
Fosdick, H. E., The Meaning of Prayer , Ass’n Press, 1915.
Fowler, W. W., The Religious Experience of the Roman People (1911), pp. 185-191.
Glover, The Jesus of History , pp. 89-114.
Kent, Life and Teaching of Jesus , pp. 142-155.
Otto, R., The Idea of the Holy , Oxford, 1923.
Walker, Teaching of Jesus and Jewish Teaching , pp. 35-81.
Wendt, Teaching of Jesus , Vol. I, pp. 287-325.