A, Mid Week Lent 1- Sermon Series "The Litany of Jesus' Treasures - Prayer"

Matthew 26:36–45a (ESV) Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”  And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”  And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.  Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”  

Why did Jesus pray?  Why does the church pray; why do believers pray? Why do you pray?  Or looking at it from the other way.  When you don’t pray to God the Father, what are your lack of words to him saying, and doing?   And if you’re not praying to God, is it possible to be praying to someone or something else?  If so, then what is the function and purpose of prayer?

Prayer is a wishing, willing, or asking someone for something. 

Jesus prayed during his earthly ministry.  He prayed for himself, and he prayed for others.  Tonight, we have heard Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane and his disciple’s weakness of flesh, falling asleep as he prayed.

Do you find Jesus’ prayer a bit peculiar?  He was born with the purpose to die for humanity.  He knew his mission and yet we hear him pray,  “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”

It raises a few questions about Jesus and prayer. 

If he is the Son of God and knew God’s plan of salvation, why did he pray for the cup of suffering and death to be taken away?  And, being God the Son, why did he need to pray?  After all, he is God!

Jesus continued on in prayer to the Father, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  Jesus asked God the Father for death and suffering to be taken away from him.  But he recognises, it’s not what he wants or asks for, but what God wants, needs, askes, pleasures, or wills for humanity that’s important.

Yet prayer is, at its most basic, an asking, and we hear in the Gospels that Jesus often is found alone praying to God the Father.  In prayer, he pours out his heart to God for himself and for those to whom he is sent. Why?

A misconception in the church is that a person who prays is a powerful person.  For that reason, many people don’t pray because they do not believe they are powerful enough; that they don’t have enough faith.

This is a misconception because they who think this, have little understanding of what Jesus is all about.

Those in Jesus’ day struggled with this mistaken belief too, when Jesus, Peter, James, and John return from the Mountain of Transfiguration and found the other disciples arguing with the scribes.

Jesus enquired as to what was going on,  “And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.  And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.  So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’” (Mark 9:17-18 ESV) 

Jesus rebukes them for not having faith, speaks with the father of the boy, then heals him.  Later on in private the disciples asked Jesus, “‘Why could we not cast it out?’  And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’” (Mark 9:28 ESV)   

For us now, the mistake is made by believing Jesus has more power than the disciples.  But it was not power as we perceive it, rather it is in the power of faith.  Like the father of the boy, we do better than the disciples by crying out to Jesus, ”I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24 ESV)   

The power of faith and prayer is misconstrued by those who have great physical strength, exceptional understanding, or earthly experience, yet a small child can exercise a faith far more powerful than the elite, the practised, or the strong.

This is the faith by which Jesus operated.  He asked or prayed to his Father, trusting like a small child, without doubt or false expectation.  Jesus asked and prayed with a pure faith, not in himself, but by the generating of faith by the Holy Spirit within him.  In essence, he prayed with no faith in himself, but with complete faith in his Father. 

However, the disciples who could not drive out the mute spirit from the child, couldn’t do so because they had too much faith in their own ability, and little in God working through their weakness.

On the other hand, Jesus’ prayer, faith, and ability was Holy Spirited and not from his own divine or human power.  Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.”  (Philippians 2:6–8 ESV)

His death began at his baptism in the Jordan, where he put off his divinity and put on the Holy Spirit in his human weakness.  Despite his human spirit and flesh being weak, he faithfully worked in this weakness while on earth, and died in this weakness, though innocent and blameless.

Jesus’ passive trust in God the Father allowed him to exist, pray, heal, and live without sin in his human weakness, hence displaying the complete power of God, in his life and in his death. 

The disciples were to learn this first, and God calls us to learn that the true power of prayer is in the power of God working through those who truly believe they have no power in themselves. 

God exercises power through our weakness, as he did through Jesus having put off his divinity and lived in the weakness of human flesh. 

Once Jesus was glorified to the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, the disciples moved by the Holy Spirit, also displayed the power of God, spreading the Gospel, trusting in the power of God in the weakness of their flesh.

So, we as Christ’s church can look at the prayers of Jesus, why and how he prayed, so like him, we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to pray with one hundred percent trust in God, and with trust that we are one hundred percent weak humans.

If you want to see the heart of Jesus’ prayers, read Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John seventeen, the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew six or Luke eleven, and also the Psalms.  These are the prayers Jesus gave to King David, King Solomon, and those others tasked to write Psalms so David and Solomon could lead the temple congregation in asking God for his will in their weakness.  In the same way, in the heavenly temple, Jesus continues to also pray his petitions of prayers for us who trust in him and who know we are weak!

These treasures of Jesus’ prayer life can be your treasure too.  You can pray like Jesus and your prayers will be as powerful as Jesus’ prayers, because they are joined with his work of prayer before the throne of God.  This happens when in your weakness you allow the Holy Spirit to work in you, just as Jesus let the Spirit work in his weak flesh. 

Pray for the Holy Spirit to take control of your human spirit!

As Saint Paul encourages the Philippians in the joy of his weakness, let us also be encouraged…    

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus… (Philippians 2:1–5 ESV)

If you choose not to pray to God, have you the mind and heart of Jesus?  In the absence of prayers to God, one usually “prays”, ponders, meditates, or speaks to oneself. Praying like this might seem powerful but it leads one back into themselves and ends in mental anguish, helplessness, and self-destruction.

If you choose not to take what is yours in Jesus Christ, are you not placing your trust in the power of your human spirit, over the work of the Holy Spirit?  Choosing to do this, ends in sinning against the Holy Spirit, rejecting the gifts of Holy Spirited true faith so you’re not brought to forgiveness through Jesus’ death.

Why did Jesus pray?  Because he gave up the divine power of his being and was baptised into our weakness.  This is why he received the Holy Spirit.  

Why does the church pray; why do believers pray?  Because we know we are weak and need the Holy Spirit, to call us, gather us, and enlighten us, us with the gifts of God.

Why do you pray?  Why wouldn’t you, knowing who you truly are, and what Jesus did in true humility for you!  Amen.