Jesus Opened Prayer

What Did Jesus Do?

Pray then like this…
Matthew 6.9

Have you ever had an adventure in the kitchen? My wife can tell you that I have had more than a few. My adventures result from my tendency to look at recipes more as a jazz musician would rather than a classical one; instead of following them precisely I will often go off and improvise, substituting or adding ingredients of my own. I look at recipes as “open,” in that I feel free to alter them. It makes for some interesting, if not always delicious, results, like the time I dumped a tablespoon or so of ground cloves into some meatloaf. Dinner wasn’t so good that night, but the whole house had a not unpleasant pungency!

In his discourse on prayer in Matthew 6, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus “opened” prayer, giving us an example, not a strict order or recipe. The ingredients of prayer, and how much of each of them, is not locked down, but opened up; prayer is not restricted to the words of Matthew 6.9-13. And a good thing too, since the other canonical version of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11.2-4 itself varies from Matthew.

Jesus did not say “pray this” or “pray these words only,” but instead “pray like this” or “pray in this manner.” It is somewhat amusing that the words Jesus intended to open and personalize prayer for us all have become the most rote prayer in the world. And don’t even think about reciting, which unfortunately prayer has devolved to for many, the Lord’s Prayer in anything but the words of the King James Version! (I will let you in on a little secret: I have never called to my wife from the living room and said, “O honey, which art in the kitchen.”)

Think of it this way, do you have the exact same conversation with everyone you speak with? Parents, do each of your children all say the same thing to you over and over again without the slightest variation? Then how likely do you think it is that our Father wants our conversation with him to be constrained to the 66 words in Matthew 6 (Which version includes the concluding doxology, (“For yours in the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen”), or the 39 words in Luke 11.

So, when it comes to our teaching others to pray, we can teach others to follow the example of the hypocrites, who recited godly words to impress others (Matthew 6.5), and the Gentiles, who burdened their gods with many and repeated high-sounding but empty phrases (Matthew 6.7), or we can look to Jesus, who opened prayer up to be: (1) addressed to the one loving Father of all, (2) personal, (3) spontaneous, (4) improvised, (5) short, and (6) humble and sincere.

Prayer can keep God aloof and remote, communication confined to cold formality, or empty repetition. Or we can show others that prayer can and should be the means to draw ever closer to the Father in intimate and loving relationship. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4