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.
New Testament scholar I. Howard Marshall notes that the Gospels do not usually record normal life-situations like Jesus eating or Jesus sleeping. We have no report of what Jesus ate for breakfast or what time he went to bed. The Gospels just take for granted that Jesus did such things and don’t bother to record these details.
But every-once-in-a-while, the Gospels do record these details. They go out of their way to indicate a moment when Jesus did/did not eat or was/was not sleeping. They do so because something unusual is taking place and they want us to notice (e.g., Jesus is entering a deliberate fast or Jesus is sleeping/rising at an unusual time).
In the same way the Gospels take for granted that Jesus prayed. The average Jewish male like Jesus would have prayed set prayers in the synagogue, said grace before meals, and uttered personal petitions in the morning, afternoon87fd83d12f75492ff06942a8ecbb1a16B002NPCI3W, and evening. We can assume that Jesus engaged in these common prayer practices even though the Gospels don’t register the details.
But more than every-once-in-awhile the Gospels do register details about Jesus at prayer. They go out of their way to highlight a petition from Jesus or a statement by Jesus about prayer. They do so because on those occasions something unusual or out-of-the ordinary is taking place.
For example, we are told that Jesus often prayed in the early hours of the morning. Jesus’ biographers mention this because it is outside of the norm. The average Jew would not have engaged in such a practice.
In addition, we read that after feeding the crowd, Jesus spent the late night period in prayer. The Gospels point this out because extra-ordinary. The average Jew would not have done such a thing.
Over and over the Gospels reveal these remarkable prayer practices of Jesus—about thirty times. The point? Jesus not only prayed—he prayed above and beyond the religious expectations of his day. Jesus’ prayer-life stood head-and-shoulders above that of other pious Jews.
Too often I am content if I can point to the way in which my prayer-life is keeping up with other people whom I consider pious. As long as my prayer-life is nearly equivalent to the prayerful people whom I admire, I am satisfied. When I look to Jesus, however, I am forced to stretch and push and grow. Because he prayed beyond the norm, I am also compelled to do so.
Is your prayer life below-average, average, or above-average? In what ways does Jesus inspire you to move from ordinary prayer to extraordinary prayer? Consider the person you know who prays the most. What would it look like for you to pray even more persistently and passionately than that?
