The basis of Christian prayer (I)

There is a popular Nigerian Christian song that speaks of the importance of prayer in the life of Jesus Christ. The lyrics of the song read thus: “Prayer is the key, prayer is the key. Prayer is the master key. Jesus started with prayer, and ended with prayer. Prayer is the master key.” Prayer is indeed the master key that opens the door to the heart of God. A simple definition of prayer is “the raising up of our mind and heart to God.” In prayer, we communicate with God. There are several instances of Jesus in the act of prayer in the Gospels. At His Baptism in the River Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him while He was praying (Lk 3:21). Right at the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus prayed (Mk 1:35). Also at His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Lk 9:29). Jesus taught His disciples to pray (Mt 6:9-13; Lk 11:1-4). When His disciples rebuked parents who brought their children to Him, Jesus admonished them, and thereafter laid hands on the children and blessed them (Mt 19:13). Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith might not fail (Lk 22:32).

At the multiplication of bread for the feeding of the 5000, Jesus took the bread and prayed over it (Jn 6:11). The Gospel also records that after the multiplication of bread, Jesus withdrew to pray (Mt 14:23). He also prayed at the Last Supper (Mt 26:26-30). At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed in the moment of His agony (Mt 26:39-44). On the Cross of Calvary, He prayed for forgiveness from the Father for those who crucified Him (Lk 23:34). Jesus prayed at the raising of Lazarus to life (Jn 11:41-42). These are some of the recorded moments in the Gospels when Jesus prayed. However, there are only few instances when the Gospels give us the exact words of the prayer of Jesus. One significant moment occurs in John chapter 17, which is referred to as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. This chapter records the inspired words of Jesus’ prayer to the Father. In the fifth century, St Clement of Alexandria remarked that in this prayer, Jesus was acting as High Priest on behalf of his people. The Letter to the Hebrews, in a number of passages, speaks of Jesus as High Priest (cf. Heb 4:14-16; Heb 5:7-10; Heb 8:3-6; Heb 9:11-15). 

The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus in the Gospels. It is only about 650 words. It takes three and half minutes to read it aloud. But it will take all eternity for us to fully understand it. Beyond the content of the prayer, the significant message is that Jesus prayed. We will not be able to comprehend what it means to say that Jesus prayed, because essentially it is God (Jesus Christ) praying to God (Father) – God’s self-dialogue. In the prayer, Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him so that He could glorify the Father. Jesus glorifies the Father by completing the work that the Father gave Him to do. What is this work? It is the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross, by which he makes atonement for the sins of the world. John the Baptist refers to Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29).

There are several qualities of true Christian prayer. One of such qualities is submission to the will of God. When we pray, we ought to allow God’s will to be done. Prayer is not arm-twisting God’s hand to do our miserable will. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us that when we pray, we should say: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). This means that in prayer we do not tell God to do our will, our bidding. At the hour of his agony at the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus submitted himself to the will of God when he prayed: “Father, if it is possible, take this cup of sorrow away from me. Nevertheless, let is be not according to my will, but according to your will” (Mt 26:39). 

One of the banes of Christian prayer today in Nigeria is that many Christians want God to do their bidding. They even go as far as ‘decreeing’ for God. We often hear Christians who pray: “Father, I decree that you should do so and so for me.” Who are we to decree for God what He must do? This attitude shows that what many Christians call prayer is simply some kind of remote control by which they think they can command God. No reasonable child makes a request of his earthly father and ‘decrees’ for his father. He will only incur the rebuttal of his request and the wrath of his father. On the contrary, the child begs, asks, implores, requests and appeals. If we cannot command our earthly father to grant our request, why do we think we can command God? In this light, such prayer becomes an abomination in the sight of God. In all the recorded prayers of Jesus, we are never told that He ever commanded God.

Another quality of true prayer is that it constantly seeks the glory of God. If our prayers do not seek God’s ultimate glory, then there is something questionable about it. In His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus says to the Father: “I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do. Now, Father, give me in your presence the same Glory I had with you before the world began” (Jn 17:4). To seek God’s glory in our prayer is also to hallow the Name of God. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus began by saying: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name” (Mt 6:9). Another popular Nigerian Christian song has this lyrics: “Our Father in heaven, we glorify your Name, we bow down before you!” This song is borne out of the recognition that God is the Greatest and that we must humble ourselves when we come into the presence of God. Whenever we magnify ourselves in our prayer instead of magnifying God, we are not praying to God but praying to ourselves.

This attitude of prayer is clearly revealed in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the temple to pray (cf. Lk 18:9-14). In the parable, Jesus said: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and said: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like his tax collector. I fast twice a week and give the tenth of all my income to the Temple. In the meantime the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, when this man went down to his house, he had been set right with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised.” In this parable, we can see that the Pharisee magnified and praised himself. He gave glory to himself for being able to perform exceptional religious rituals. This made him discriminate against others. In fact, Luke’s Gospel said that the Pharisee stood and prayed to himself, not to God. God does not accept the prayer of a proud man. That is why Jesus concluded the parable with a lesson about pride and humility. Only the prayer of the humble and contrite is acceptable to God.

St Ambrose, commenting on the Magnificat, the spirit-filled song of praise that Mary addresses to the Living God (cf. Lk 1:39-46), says that to magnify the Lord in our prayer does not mean that we add anything to God, but that we let God be great in us. To magnify the Lord means that we do not magnify ourselves, our own name, our own ego; not to spread ourselves and take up more space like the peacock, but to give God room in our lives. It means to truly become what we are: not a self-enclosed monad that displays nothing but itself, but God’s image. To magnify the Lord means to get free of the dust and soot that obscures and begrimes the transparency of God’s image in us and to become truly human by pointing exclusively to God. This is essentially what prayer is. It signifies the human person’s true exodus from himself, in such a way that there is a transition from our own will to the union of our will God (a union of two wills).

Father Ojeifo is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja.