This post is part of a 40-day journey following Jesus in his prayer life. We’ll explore virtually every reference in the Gospels to Jesus and prayer. For a more in-depth treatment, see my book Prayers from the Pit.
“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise…I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me’” (John 5:19, 30 ESV).
Jesus’ mission is one of imitation. What he hears his Father saying, Jesus says. What he sees his Father doing, he does. Before Jesus speaks to others, he listens to his Father. Before he does for others, he observes his Father.
Andrew Lincoln asks, “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.”
Prayer is how hears what the Father is saying and sees what the Father is doing. Through prayer Jesus listens to God and then speaks for God. In prayer Jesus observes the Father and then behaves like the Father.
For Jesus, prayer is not merely a time to open his mouth, but also a time to open his ears. Prayer is not a time for closing the eyes, but for opening them. Through prayer Jesus saw God’s movement and heard God’s message.
Do you ever listen in prayer? Do you ever watch in prayer? Sit in silence for the next ten minutes. Ask God to open your ears to his message. Ask God to open your eyes to his movement. Listen. Observe. This, too, is prayer.
