Jesus prayed

It’s a short sentence almost hidden (you will miss it if you read too quickly) between two accounts of healing by Jesus:  “But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Lk. 5:16).

Now think about that for a minute.  Jesus was a man, but He was also fully God.  He had everything He needed at His disposal.  He had an eternity (literally) of fellowship with the Father in His background, and an eternity of fellowship with Him in the future.  Why then would He — the God-Man — find secluded places to pray?

The text doesn’t explicitly tell us why Jesus prayed, but there is a pattern in the New Testament that suggests an answer.

Throughout the gospels, there are repeated passages about Jesus and prayer.  For example, here are some verses that contain His teaching about prayer as well as His exhortations for others to pray:

• “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44; cf. also Lk. 6:28)
• “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.…” (Matt. 6:5ff; cf. Mk. 11:24ff; Lk. 11:1ff)
• “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.” (Matt. 24:20; cf. also Mk. 13:18)
• Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” (Matt. 26:36; cf.also Mk. 14:32ff; Lk. 22:40ff)
• “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. 26:41)
• Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart… (Lk. 18:1ff)
• “But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Lk. 21:36; cf. also Mk. 13:33)

Additionally, there are many times when Jesus goes away by Himself to pray:

• After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. (Mt. 14:23)
• Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. (Matt. 19:13)
• In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. (Mark 1:35)
• After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:46)
• Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened… (Luke 3:21)
• It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)
• And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” (Luke 9:18)
• Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. (Luke 9:28ff)
• (to Peter) — “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Lk. 22:32)

Why would Jesus pray?  Because the example of His own prayer demonstrates the importance of His repeated exhortations to pray.  If He prays and is dependent on prayer, then I need prayer infinitely more.  If He prays and calls me to pray, I dare not ignore either His command or example.  Matthew Henry offers a helpful summary:

Though never any did so much good in public, yet he found time for pious and devout retirements (v. 16): He withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed; not that he needed to avoid either distraction or ostentation, but he would set us an example, who need to order the circumstances of our devotion so as to guard against both.

Jesus prayed.  And since He prayed, so must I.  Does my prayer life demonstrated the same kind of dependence on prayer as Jesus exemplified in His life?