In “Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament,” Andrew T. Lincoln explores the prayer-life of Jesus portrayed in John’s Gospel.
Oddly, the Greek verb “to pray” (proseuchomai)–used 11X in Mark, 15X in Matthew, and 19X in Luke–does not occur at all in John.
John does include images of Jesus engaged in prayer at meals–giving thanks for or blessing food (John 6:11, 23). And, I’ve found, John provides us 5 of the 10 actual prayers of Jesus.
But what stands out is the fact that John fails to mention most of the other 21 references to the prayer-life of Jesus which are found in the other Gospels (my count, not Lincoln’s).
Why this absence in John’s Gospel of the multi-faceted prayer-life of Jesus?
Lincoln suggests that there is an emphasis on Jesus’ prayer-life in John, it’s just different than the focus in the other Gospel’s. He points to these examples:
- In John 9:31, when a man born blind responds to his interrogators’ questions about whether Jesus healed him, the man says, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.” Lincoln writes, “There is no prayer on the part of Jesus recorded in the account of the man receiving his sight. Yet the man’s statement seems to presuppose that God has listened to a request from Jesus.”
- In John 11:22 after Martha reproaches Jesus for not coming earlier to prevent the death of Lazarus, she says, “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Lincoln writes, “Again, this presupposes that Jesus engaged in petitionary prayer.”
- Further, in John’s Gospel, Jesus repeatedly states that he can do nothing on his own, but he only does and declares what he has heard from his Father (5:30; 8:26,28; 12:29-50; 14:10; 15:15). Similarly, he states that he can only do what he sees his Father doing (5:19-20; 8:38). Lincoln writes, “When did this listening and observing…occur? The formulations suggest that these activities…were part of his continuing relationship with his Father during his public ministry–a relationship in which he saw visions and heard auditions, and for which prayer would not be an inappropriate description.”
Thus, in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ prayer-life is not merely asking, petitioning, or interceding. It is also consists of being silent and listening and observing. Lincoln writes, “…our own conception of prayer may be too limited. For prayer is not simply speaking and interceding. Prayer is also being silent and listening. The narrative of the Fourth Gospel makes it clear that Jesus’ relationship to God is one of constant listening to and seeing the Father so that he can carry out the Father’s will.”
How about you? In what ways does prayer serve as a way to listen to and/or see the Father?
